A Year Plus of 'I Do'
by sophiesky13
Summary: He proposed, she said 'i do'. Now what? It's a general knowledge that marriage is a lifelong nuptial. But for these two, it's only for a year. They know all about it, of course. To sign on the dotted line one needed to read the whole document,right?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: No Copyright infringement intended.**

**Prologue**

They were at it again. Bickering, bickering and bickering. This wasn't their first time and with absolute certainty it would not be their last. It was just how they worked. They grated on each other's nerves and went at it. Very rarely, both of them would come out satisfied. It took very little to start a fight between them. Don't get me wrong, their fights weren't blood inducing, plates flying kinds of fights. Their fights were childish; it was embarrassing to watch when they started. Luckily for them, no one was ever there to witness these fights. Only two people in the world had.

.

The boy was already awake. This was usual for him given his work schedule. He tried not to change his sleeping cycle too much even on the weekends. What wasn't the usual was the girl wasn't awake. Now, it wasn't the usual but it had happened before and he knew the reason behind it. But that didn't stop the boredom that he was feeling. He bellowed the girl's name and heard a distinct groan that he recognised so much. That groan came only when she was irritated and he would like to think that he was the only person to ever cause such noise from her.

The girl had only three hours of sleep when she heard her name being called. She just finished her assignment and had to hand it to her partner for the said partner to finish and submit it by the end of the week.

The boy, impatient, called her again louder this time and inquired the whereabouts of his beloved remote in the same breath. Wanting to get it over with, the girl rolled off the bed and threw open her door. In her haste to get down, she tripped at the stairs. Her quick hand grabbed the railing and glared at the boy, who snickered at her. With an accusatory glance at the boy, she began to search the living room. She was sure the boy was the last to use it last night to watch baseball.

When he corrected her, saying that it was softball, it irked her. Not because she got the name of the game wrong, but because it proved that he was the last to use the remote and subsequently misplaced it.

The boy watched as the girl went through every cushion in the living room. He wouldn't lie; there were a lot of cushions. The girl stopped picking up cushions to look under them; instead, she resorted to just kicking them around. The boy used her busyness to prepare breakfast. Not preparing it per se. He took out the milk from the fridge and their array of choices of cereal and put them on the counter, he prepared one for himself and put one bowl beside him on his right, shielding it from view. He didn't want her to know that he intended on preparing breakfast. He just wanted her to see the mess he made, the haphazardly placed cereal boxes meaning that he was just simply having a hard time choosing a cereal, but the bowl he was hiding showed his true intention. The whole paradoxical way of his mind showed just how weird the boy was.

The girl gave a loud huff and looked to the left only to find the boy eating his cereal. Upon further inspection, her keen eyes saw something that the boy wanted to keep hidden; she marched over and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Eating breakfast, of course," the boy answered, almost gleefully thinking his plan was working.

The girl narrowed her eyes and asked again, "What is that?" She wanted him to admit it rather than have to point it out herself.

But of course that wasn't what the boy had in mind. Paradox, remember? So he evaded. "What is what?"

The girl glared at him. After a while she lost her patience and reached forward. Only not towards the direction of the bowl.

"This," she said, grabbing the remote from his waistband. "What is this doing there?"

The boy's quick mind thought for an excuse and blurted it out. "What are you so angry for? I found it here."

The girl shut her eyes and counted backwards from ten. She opened them and asked, "Yeah? What was it doing in the kitchen, when you have a table in front of the TV where we put all the other remotes?"

"I left it here. I went to grab a beer last night and forgot to take it with me. You cannot watch a game without a beer."

The girl knew he was lying because they ran out of beer and she hadn't shopped for groceries yet.

"Milk?" he supplied. The self-proclaimed quick mind could only come out with milk as his beverage of choice to watch the game with.

The girl sunk to the floor and started to tap her hands and feet on the floor, screaming, "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

The boy started to feel bad and explained himself. What seemed justifiable in his mind only aggravated the girl more. Because apparently, 'the weather is good and the sun isn't shining,' was a good enough of an excuse to wake up people who have been up most of the night.

The girl stopped hitting the floor and the boy felt slightly better. "You can't knock?" she asked.

The boy scoffed, because they both knew a simple knock wouldn't wake the girl up once she was out. The wood of the door was hard enough that a rap at the door wouldn't sound so loud. At times like these, the boy thought of the girl as the sleeping beauty that could only be awakened with – no, not a kiss, but – the sound of his annoyingly loud voice.

The girl retorted, saying there are a number of ways to wake people up other than shouting at them. To which the boy pointed that almost everything the girl said was impossible simply because he wasn't allowed to enter the girl's room.

"That is a sign right there, that you _shouldn't_ wake me up! I mean it," she said.

And the girl stormed back upstairs to resume her slumber. "The living room better be clean when I get down or I won't make any dinner for you, and it's lasagne night today," she threatened him.

The boy's eyes lit up at the mention of lasagne and started to clean up, rearranging all the cushions, and complaining all the while because the girl was the one who kicked them around. It wasn't his fault that the living room was in a mess.

The girl couldn't resume her slumber. The boy had kicked the sleepiness out of her system. She plopped down her comfy bed and looked around her room. Besides her messenger bag and some of the clothes in her closet, none of the stuff in this room was hers.

She gave a loud sigh and thought of how different things were at this time last year. She hadn't been in a good place at this time last year. But at least she had been where she wanted to be: in a house with her best friend and finishing her degree. She was also during that time searching high and low for money to pay for a car she wrecked. That fateful day. The day she would never forget.

She wasn't really successful in searching money for the payment of the car but she did make a deal to get out of it, which resulted in her having the things she considered luxurious in front of her. Her bed was upgraded to a king size and covered in the softest material. Her south wall was covered with bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling. Half of which were yet to be filled. The clothes in her closet were hers, but only 45% of them. The bathroom, well let's say that it was one of her favourite places in the world.

It sounded like a win – win deal, didn't it? Why was she fretting? She didn't have to pay for the car, and instead got to live luxuriously as she said.

Putting it that way certainly painted a negative picture of her.

What about the car owner? What deal that he made?

Let's just say that he was also living the life he wanted, luxuriously. Although, that was the only way he had ever lived in but this particular deal had made his life easier. The said deal had gotten the girl out of paying for his car.

The deal sounded one sided, didn't it?

The girl didn't pay and lived luxuriously. The owner had to pay for the wreck she caused.

And just what was the connection between the boy and the car owner? The girls were obviously the same person. Would it be a shock if the boy was the car owner? Well, it was the truth.

Confused?

Let's make it simple.

Because the girl couldn't pay for the damages to his car, the car owner, a.k.a the boy, made a deal that will get her out of paying and at the same time made his life easy as well.

The deal made was: the girl had to marry the boy.

Yes, the bickering 12 year olds were in fact husband and wife. No, they weren't really 12 year olds, they just acted like them. Yes, the both had better things to do than marrying each other, or other people for that matter. But they did anyway.

Why oh why did they get married?

We'll get to the bottom of the reason why Isabella Swan _agreed_ to marry Edward Cullen. And why Edward Cullen _needed_ to get marry Isabella Swan.

Love was not the answer.


	2. Her Story

**Her Story**

* * *

My story began with a bracelet. A charm bracelet. One day, I was late to class. Despite being late, I still needed my caffeine fix, or I would have dozed off while on the road. That alone took ten minutes. When I finally got my coffee, I ran towards my truck. Not half a mile later, I found my forehead on a wall, my butt on the floor, and coffee all over said wall and myself.

Only, it wasn't a wall. It was a guy, with my coffee all over his shirt. His really – used to be – white shirt. I apologized profusely and started dabbing on his shirt with the tissues I grabbed from my bag.

That motion caused me to notice my watch and see the time_. Darn, I am not going to be locked out again_. This particular lecturer just loved the sound of the lock clicking behind him as he entered the class. He even closed his eyes, as if relishing the sound.

I chucked the rest of the tissues at Mr Coffee Stain and started to get up, apologizing again –this time, for abandoning him. Then I felt something tugging at my wrist. I wrenched it free and broke to a run. When I arrived at campus, I ran again, for once, I didn't trip, fall, or run into anyone. Quite an accomplishment, I must say. Mike stopped me as I jogged past him. After a stream of not so polite questions as to why I wasn't informed of the cancellation of the class by dear Mr Palmer, a note on the door answered my question. That man really loved his door. He didn't even bother to text anyone about the cancellation. Selfish bastard. As pissed as I was, getting a bite and a nap wasn't such a bad idea.

It was when I was calling Angela to join me for breakfast that I felt bare, my wrist too light, the usually soft clinking of the bracelet absent. The sun also didn't reflect the metal, and I wasn't blinded by the sight of it_. Yeah, my senses are always this acute_. My hand was still poised to wave when Mike pointed out that my watch was on the other hand_. I knew that, Mike!_ One look towards my right hand got my heart beating so fast. Only one thought crossed my mind: _Charlie will be pissed._

Three hours later, I was whining at Rosalie, whose class was cancelled via email. Lucky her! She was supportive at first, but after half an hour of whining on my part, she was annoyed. A remark about mirror breaking due to the high pitch of my voice and subsequent bad luck following me due to the breaking of the wall shut me up. I would not take any chances if today was any example.

The previous two hours were spent squat walking on the sidewalk and in the coffee shop. No such luck. My bracelet wasn't found. So here I was, wetting Rose pyjamas because I dragged her out of her sleep. Her breath still smelled, but a mint candy thrown in there solved the problem.

Since I lost my bracelet, bad luck was trailing me even without any mirror breaking. Charlie called saying that the library in Forks was caught on fire and he chipped in to help rebuilt it.

How does it relate?

The library was my hangout place; I worked there during the summer. Every day after school, I would just sit there, not necessarily reading, but sometimes just to take a nap. The smells of books comforted me. Unless Jake or Rose took me somewhere else, there really wasn't any other place I would be – the whole Forks knew.

Then, about a month later, I lost my purse. Only to find it a week later, without cash or my ATM cards. I went to the bank and found that the thief had emptied my account; the only money left was the compensating balance. I filed a report, but there was only so much they could do. The cops checked the CCTV but hadn't found any matches. I asked Charlie for some money, and thank God he gave some to me without any questions. I wouldn't want him to know about the theft. I had asked him for the money once, considering he put in quite a lot of money for the library knowing that I loved the place so much. I was also weird to ask him for money. I haven't done so in my two years of studying.

So, to fend for myself, I got myself a job. The manager was kind enough to work with my class schedule as long as I got 30 hours by the end of the week. I worked three hours a day on weekdays and finish the rest on the weekend. That put a dent on my social activities, but who was I kidding? Other than Rose and Jake, I didn't really like going out that much, especially now that I had no money for social activities, just the necessities. Plus, those three hours on weekdays was enough to exhaust me.

This was the moment when the major bad luck happened. It was a Thursday. The day that I was the most tired, three hours of work, plus four hours of class, was not a good combination. With my trusted coffee next to me and stereo on full blast, I was on my way home. Rose called me on the way, asking me of my whereabouts. Tired, I drove extra slow. Extra, considering the truck didn't really go that fast. One particular song came on and I sang along. It was becoming my favourite song. I air drummed on my steering wheel and went to hit the cymbal on my right. I hit my coffee instead, and it fell to the floor.

_That is gonna stink._

I ducked and tried to reach for it blindly, keeping my eyes on the road. Seeing there was no car in sight, my eyes went to the floor. Grabbing the coffee below the passenger seat, I heard a loud continuous honk. I floored the brake and shut my eyes. I felt a crash and swallowed.

_That couldn't be good._

I got out the truck, looked up the sky, and gave a silent prayer of thanks to the man above for keeping me alive. I shut the door of the truck and looked at the scene before me. Broken glass was strewn all over the asphalt, and a guy was squatting next to his car, patting it and murmuring something over and over again. I gave him the time he needed, just standing behind him until he was ready, wringing my hands nervously.

He finally stood up, and I got a good look at him. He was ... Oh my God! He was so pissed! I stared at him and felt the beginning of sweat beginning to form on my scalp. Seconds later, his eyes soften and he apologized.

Hit rewind please.

He apologized. I broke his car and he apologized? Chivalry certainly was living and breathing just fine inside this fine young man.

"Oh no, no. _I'm_ sorry. I was –" Should I tell him the reason? It seemed so silly now, the air drumming. Oh, what the hell. "– my coffee fell and I tried to reach for it. I'm really sorry?"

The question at the end of my explanation was because his eye started to morph into anger once again at the mention of coffee.

"Coffee? Didn't anyone ever tell you not to drink and drive?" he asked.

My eyes widened, and he apologized again. "I'm sorry I frightened you. I just really love this car."

That was pretty obvious. "Well, the fault isn't yours. I will pay for the repair. That's the least I could do." Now, even food had fallen second place with the crown given to paying this guy's repair. A closer inspection to his car showed that his left side view mirror had fallen off. The head light was broken and so was the left side bumper.

"Do you have a ride home? It's very dangerous to drive your car home." At this time, there was only one syllable that could make me happy. It was also the favourite syllable in English language. Imagine my happiness when that was the word that came out of his mouth.

"Yes, I do. Hold on." He reached into his car and grabbed his phone. "I'm gonna make a phone call."

I used that time to call Rose. I assured her that she didn't need to come and there wasn't a fight ensued and the guy was really nice. She relented and asked me to come home as soon as I could. The guy had finished his phone call and was still looking at his car. Dudes and their cars. Guilt found its way in me.

He turned when he heard me coming and said, "I called my brother and he'll be here with a tow truck."

"All right then. Oh, how rude of me." I held out my hand. "I'm Bella."

He took my hand and introduced himself. Edward was a nice name, kind of old. But it kind of worked on him, since there was chivalry living in him. There was an awkward silence after that, with buzzing in the air, probably from the insects in the trees behind us. Then, a roar of engine alerted us to cars coming. The engine sounded nothing like my truck that screamed old with its roar.

A red jeep turned the corner, and along with it, a tow truck. A big guy jumped down. He was big, I kid you not. Wearing a t-shirt that looked good only on people with muscles like him. I approved.

Edward introduced us, and the big guy, Emmett, thanked me for crashing into his brother's car. Up until this point, I still couldn't determine which one was the older brother. From appearance, Emmett looked like the older brother. But Edward acted older in terms of maturity. This family was really weird. One was apologizing for someone else's fault. The other was thanking me for it.

The car was towed, and I left my contact details to Edward, as it was getting dark. They both watched as I climbed in my truck and left. Right, the truck definitely had started to smell.

About half a mile before I reached my place, I pulled over and took a deep breath. That one breath I took became staggering breaths and I started to dry heave. Finally, the dam broke, and I began to cry. Everything. Everything suddenly weighed down on me. The accident was the last straw. Just a moment. I would allow myself one moment of weakness. So I took the chance and let it all out.

When I was certain I could talk normally, I called Charlie. My father, my rock. He was still at the station, on his way home. I greeted him cheerfully, but couldn't fool him completely. He immediately asked me what was wrong. I lied, saying I got a cold; hence, the hoarse voice. I told him how hard my life was right now. But I lied about the reason. I told him the syllabus was harder and the lecturers were stricter. He bought it all, having never experience the life of a university student. He married my mother right away. A mother I didn't really want to talk about.

He just told me to hang in there and give him a call more often. He was worried but didn't want to bother me. I felt guilty. Since the bracelet was lost, the twice a week phone call had become once a week. The third time I heard him stifling a yawn, I let him go and bid him good-bye.

With that, I went home. Rose was anxious as I arrived. Her concern multiplied after seeing me with puffy eyes and clogged nose. It was about an hour ago I hang up on her. She thought something had happened. She admonished me for making her worried and asked for details. I told her about the damages, and she just nodded.

She said that the damages probably would not cost more than a thousand dollars. Almost all the damages needed parts. A quick look with Goole gave us an estimate. That, along with service cost, brought the total to almost 900 dollars. We rounded it off to a thousand to be on the safe side.

My face paled at that amount. Rose rubbed her hands up and down my arms.

"Bella, I am here. I will help you. My parents aren't here right now, but I'm sure my balance in the bank can help you somewhat. Jake will definitely help you out, too," she assured me.

"I know you guys will help, but the situation remains the same. I will need to pay you guys back. God, Rose. What else could happen to me? I can barely cope as it is." I let out a huge huff. "I'm just gonna head to bed, Rose. I'm really tired."

I didn't cry. That moment of weakness had passed. I just slept.

* * *

This is my first story. but believe it or not, this is my third time publishing it as I am a bit of an anal, and I didn't like how the story ended up. I might be a little paranoid too.


	3. His Story

**Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended**

* * *

**His Story**

* * *

The story began with a birthday. I love birthdays; mine especially. The memory of my 24th birthday marred my love for birthdays from that Moment forward. However, it was only mine that I dreaded. My Mom, Esme, suddenly felt the need to play Cupid. No, scratch that. It wasn't sudden but more like suddenly heightened. She said that I had to find a bride by my next birthday, or she would find one for me. This heightened need was partially my fault. Aside from an occasional one-night fling, the whole relationship thing didn't actually interest me. I couldn't really tell my mother that. To please her, I did date the girls she threw my way. When the girl became too clingy or began to ask for too much from me, I bailed.

Alice forced a party hat on me and insisted I blow all twenty four candles. No, she didn't buy two big ones and four small ones for the cake, and there are plenty of photos as proof of the day. After the party was over and everyone had gone about their business, Mom sat me down for a talk. I had that sensation on the back of my neck that happened when I sensed something was wrong and nothing good could come out of what was about to happen.

Boy, how right I was. The preamble was that I was getting older. That was odd because Emmett was older but not a surprise. She was putting her foot down and taking over.

"Relationships need a lot of work in order to succeed. Commitment is the most important aspect. Running away when commitment is needed is certainly not the way to have a relationship. I know you were trying to please me by going out with the girls I chose, and I'm grateful for that. So, now I'm going to let you choose."

A ghost of a smile lit up my face at the end of her speech.

"Don't look so happy. There's a catch." She didn't elaborate.

"What's the catch?" I ended up asking because we had started the staring contest, and she was definitely holding her own very well.

"You asked for it." She paused for dramatic effect. "One year." Another dramatic pause. " I will give you one year to find the girl of your choice."

"That's it? Find a girl?"

"To marry," she continued.

I was shocked. Jaw dropped, eye-bugged kind of shock. Marry? That concept was so otherworldly to me. Having a relationship was hard enough, and now, she wanted me to jump the whole process altogether?

"If you really want one of your sons to marry, Emmett can do it. He's older and therefore wiser."

"Only one statement in that sentence is correct, and you know it. Emmett will not have a problem settling down, once he's ready. You, on the other hand, are another story. You have to let go, Edward." Her voice softened.

"It's not a problem, Mom."

"It is, since you have been keeping girls at arm's length. I was your age when I first got married," She spoke very softly. It was almost a whisper.

"Look how that turned out." She visibly flinched at my voice. My anger at the mentioning of the "problem" was misdirected at her. I immediately retracted. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean it. You married too young, and it hurt you. What if it happens to me too? I'm already having problems, as you put it."

"Your sister didn't get her all-knowing sense from just anyone. Your father trusts me on this. That's not important though. It isn't him I'm trying to convince. I will never hurt you intentionally, Edward. You know that. I just have a very good feeling about how this will turn out."

"Taking care of another person is a very huge responsibility."

"You live in an apartment with Emmett and Jasper. You are taking care of two people now. You are ahead of yourself."

"It's not the same, Mom. If I screw this up, I will hurt two people, her and myself."

"Why do you think so lowly of yourself, Edward? I have faith in you; you are too much like your father to hurt anyone. My perfect gentleman, always opening doors for me and helping me with my coat. You will never hurt this girl, Edward."

"I'm way too messed up, Mom."

"What did I say before? This is to help you, right?" she said earnestly.

First step to recovery is to admit you need help. Yes, I need help.

"Okay."

._.

Three months later, still no improvement. I found that searching for an employee took less time. Well, you couldn't exactly put out an ad for this kind of thing. Although, I had seen some of those ads. They gave me goosebumps but I did have some respect for those people. They had guts.

Grabbing people from across the street was also not the way to go. Emmett thought it would be funny to do it from watching a TV show called _Oblivious_.

Emmett wasn't really helping. Hookers were definitely not the girls you wanted to bring to your parents and subsequently marry. But that suggestion set the ball rolling. Jasper, ever the brain, got an idea that might work. Technically Emmett did help, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

Jasper grilled me before telling me his idea. While I usually just flipped him off at the mention of the "problem" as I now dubbed it, I sat through it in order to understand his idea.

"This "problem" that you have will hinder you from winning." It wasn't a competition, but somehow Jasper saw it as such. If I lose, Mom will choose a girl for me, and she was particularly fond of the last girl I dated.

"No offense, dude, but the only way you could win this is if you are cured from it, and that will require years of therapy. Plus, you've had relationships because of your mother. Well, not relationships actually, just dates, right?" he continued when I nodded. "Even _this_ is because of your mother." This being the getting-myself-married situation I got into.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Hold on. Let me finish. It's just that a relationship can only happen if you want it to happen, and you obviously don't." I narrowed my eyes at that.

"I'm not asexual. Of course, I want a relationship."

"Maybe someday, but not yet. My point is that you will not have enough time so you should hire a wife. Hire a girl to play the part of your wife for your family. It doesn't have to be long. People get divorced everyday nowadays. It's almost a trend."

One look at my face would have shown that I was thinking hard and seriously considering the idea. He sold me on his last argument.

"The icing on the cake is that you won't get hurt and neither will she. Think about it, alright?"

I was already thinking about it without his prompt. Before he left my office, he told me not to tell Emmett until everything was cemented.

I thought about it for a week before I said yes to the idea. With Emmett and Jasper in front of me, Jasper began laying out the plan. According to him, this girl had to be someone who wasn't going to bail on me. That meant the girl was going to need the money for the duration of the agreement. That was the most important part: the girl would have to need money, or she wouldn't take this seriously.

I started thinking about this, if the girl needed the money, who was to say she wouldn't grab the money and leave me hanging.

"That's why your uncanny judging ability will help," Jasper concluded.

Apparently, Jasper thought that I was a good judge of character after telling him that the last girl he dated was quite a bit of a gold-digger. Sometimes I got some sort of a vibe if a person is up to no good, but that was about it, though. I was my mother's son after all.

Jasper also had some kind of a gift, as I would call it. He could easily detect a buyer for our company. Jasper had easily secured our biggest client by what he would call a "whale moment".

About nine months into the agreement with Mom, he said he got that feeling again.

Perhaps, I should clarify. About a month before that, I got into an accident. It was just a small accident. The only party injured was my car. The other driver, Bella, had a truck that doubled as a tank. She, along with her truck, came out fine. However, my car lost her sight (headlights), her hearing (side view mirror), and her nose (bumper).

My car almost became a disabled entity. It lost three senses in one shot due to coffee. That's completely ridiculous. Not beer, not vodka, not alcohol, but caffeine. Caffeine was supposed to keep you awake, alert, and energized.

This bias against coffee might be because I once was injured with a first degree burn by said drink. Not only that, the one who dropped it left me there – with just tissues – to fend for myself. Granted, Jasper was inside the coffee house taking his own sweet time, so I wasn't exactly by myself. That's beside the point though. As part of my revenge, I took the bracelet that fell as she tugged on it too hard. I ignored the button to my shirt that was not too far from the bracelet. Served her right. Up until this point, sometimes it got me thinking, whether I kept the bracelet for revenge or for hopes of seeing her again. Most of the time, the latter part was thrown out of my brain as I remembered the ache in my butt for a week.

Jasper wasn't helping when he came out of the café. I heard a click, possibly from his camera phone, and noticed that he was sniffing around. He said that I was very impatient and asked why couldn't wait until he was done buying. It wasn't funny. He helped me up, and I asked if he'd seen a brunette with shades while he was inside. His only reply was no.

That was when I started hating coffee; although it didn't warrant a first degree burn. I tend to over react sometimes.

The memento from the incident was in the top drawer of my office desk. Sometimes when I had enough of working and just needed a break, the bracelet would find its way into my hand. Emmett had seen me with it so many times that he had considered taking it for himself to see what was really special about it.

Nothing was special about it. It was just that, putting my hatred to coffee aside, the situation was funny. As I stroke the charms on the bracelet, I found myself chuckling, and that helped release some stress of the day. Endorphins were all the help I need.

I called Emmett to come pick me up and watched as the tow truck took my baby away. That car was special to me. Ever since I had first laid eyes on it, I wanted it. I even refused my dad's help to pay for the down payment. I was in my final year in college, mind you. It didn't take long to get the money. That was where my dad involuntarily helped. I just saved more of my monthly allowance and did some odd jobs that didn't really count as jobs anyway. I took a job tending a cyber café, which meant unlocking a computer when a customer came in and collecting money when they left. And I got to surf the internet almost the entire time.

I snapped out of my reverie when Emmett snapped his fingers to call attention to himself. He was saying over and over again how he thought he'd never see the day. More like singing actually. He started reciting the history of my car, from the hard work I did to get it to the million rules I enforced within it. To Emmett, the rules were ridiculous, but to me, they were sacred. Some sort of an oath a brother made to his car.

"Let me just read some of the rules you have: no sex in the car, no food in the car, no smoking in the car, and your ultimate rule, no one else drives the car. Dude, I couldn't get any food because you refused to go to the McDonalds drive-thru. You sleep with your car key under your pillow."

Actually, I only slept with my car key under my pillow for about a week after I got my car. I didn't do that anymore.

"So, I love my car. Don't you love your Jeep?"

"I do, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make." I rolled my eyes at that. "Other than the stupid rules, you also said that, and I quote, 'no one, I mean no one will live to see another day if anything should happen to this car.' That was like two years ago when I tried to light some fire crackers near your car. Not on your car or in your car but _near_ your car, which my Jeep was parked next to. The point is that Miss Bella back there was breathing, and quite frankly, seeing with those big brown eyes. You didn't get the part 'will live to _see_' right."

"I can't possibly hit a girl, Emmett." His effort on cheering me up was really futile.

Jasper was on the couch when I got home. When I joined him after my shower, we just watched the TV in silence. It was his way of letting me know to take my time. When I finished telling him the story, he chuckled at the coffee part.

"The one day you drive to work, and you get into an accident. There was also coffee involved. It's just priceless," he said.

The three of us worked in the same office. We run it together. Emmett was the CEO, I was the COO, and Jasper the CFO. Jasper used to study law and even interned at a law firm. He then decided that law wasn't his calling though, So he started studying finance. Numbers were always his thing, and luckily enough, they still were.

To become a model to our employees, we all carpooled to work. A lot good came from carpooling. It saved money and gas. The only and biggest con was, Emmett. He slept like a log and didn't really understand the meaning of five more minutes. His five minutes was equal to me and Jasper already finished getting ready. Heavy sleeper? Not an apt enough description for Emmett's sleeping habits.

As I walked to Emmett's jeep in the parking lot of our apartment, my sight was on the spot that was vacant next to it. My baby. Emmett patted me on the shoulder.

.

"I've been sleeping on this," Jasper said as he walked in my office with Emmett in tow. "So, you know that I have thought this through thoroughly." I kept silent as an invitation for him to continue. "The girl from yesterday – I have a feeling about her. Remember last time?"

"That's kinda impossible. She's too young. She can't be client material."

"I thought so too, but I can't shake the feeling. So I was thinking, 'what could be occupying my mind?' then I remembered you."

"Me? You flatter me, Jasper."

"Shut up. Your Mom wanting you to get married, that whole thing. Maybe, she could be your candidate as a wife. Give her a call."

"What? Why? The car isn't done yet. I can't just call her." Stalling, a skill I lack in.

"Wait. Im having trouble keeping up," Emmett piped in.

"Jasper thinks that I should just hire a wife. Not a hooker," I added hastily as I saw him starting to grin.

After Emmett was done bragging about how he had helped and that I should be grateful and owed him one, it was decided that I should call Bella when the car was ready or at least when I got a date for when the car would be ready.

I suddenly hoped the car repairs would take longer than the estimated three weeks just to escape the ridiculousness of the events to come. I was going to ask a stranger to be my wife.

* * *

Thanks.  
Reviews are appreciated


	4. Her New Adventures

**Im sorry for not updating. the library was under renovation and the campus WiFi sucked, so i couldn't find a stable connection. Im on a holiaday now, here is the next one.**

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**Her New Adventures**

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It had been a hectic month, juggling my work and studies had not been an easy task and the load was taking its toll on me, giving me less time to focus on my studies. I had barely been keeping my grades up to a B. Sometimes, I slipped up, and ended up getting a B-. Considering how hard I had been working, it really bummed me out. Not only that, but even after a month of earning enough money for me to fend for myself and to pay for the car, I still hadn't gotten half of the money yet.

Rose had banned me from paying the rent. She said that if I didn't want to take her money to help pay for the car, then she wouldn't take my share of the rent. Deciding that fighting it would lead to a full blown war, I conceded, with the exception that I would pay for her rent as well when I was out of this mess.

I woke up one morning, with a feeling of dread in my stomach. Try as I might, I just couldn't shake it. A happy moment of getting a B+ on my least favourite subject could rid the feeling. I gave Dad a call, thinking he might have been was in some kind of trouble, but it wasn't him. Rose and Jake were also fine. That night, I got my answer. Rose and I had just finished dinner. I was cleaning the table, and Rose was loading the dishwasher. My phone rang, but I didn't bother to pick it up until I was done wiping the table. By the time I got to it, I was a bit breathless since I had run from the kitchen.

I didn't recognize the caller, but his voice was familiar. His introduction made my heart skip a beat and go into overdrive. My eyes widened and Rose had already made her way by my side.

"_Who is it?"_ She mouthed.

"Miss Swan?" the caller asked.

"Um, hold on a moment, please." I said into the phone. Cradling the phone to my chest, I turned to speak to Rose. "It's the Volvo guy! What should I do?"

"Talk to him," Rose said, trying her best not to add 'duh' at the end of her sentence.

"Mr. Cullen," I squeaked. "I take it your car is ready?"

"Yes. Can we meet up to talk about it?"

"Of course. When and when would you like to meet up?"

"umm, I will text you the details later." He ended the phone call. It seemed like he also had someone beside him telling him what to say.

_I'm so dead. _I hadn't had enough money to pay him.

He texted me the details a minute later and I showed it to Rose.

"The car is ready and he wanted to meet me tomorrow," I whispered. The fear most probably had paralyzed my vocal chords.

I guessed I knew how Becky was feeling when she had to run from the debt collector in the _Shopaholic_ books. Only, she was a shopaholic and knew what she was getting into, and I wasn't running. I wanted to finish this chapter of my life and never be reminded of it. But it was almost impossible with Rose and Jake. They would tease me mercilessly about it. Getting into an accident because of a cup of coffee. Maybe I would find some humour in it when this had all blown over.

As I thought of Becky I realized something that had been in front of me the whole time. Upon entering my mind, I just shouted it, surprising Rose.

"Instalments! Oh my god. Why didn't I think of it before? I don't have to pay Edward all at once. I could pay him over ten months. That means I need to pay him only 100 dollars a month. I could afford that. This is great, right, Rose?"

She nodded her agreement and rubbed her chest. Apparently, my voice was quite loud and had given her quite the scare. My vocal chords were no longer paralyzed. She was also wondering why she couldn't think about it also, me and you both, sister. I really felt like tons of weight had finally lifted off my shoulders. I slept quite peacefully that night.

Edward and I were meeting for lunch at the Tavern, a place I had been to only a couple of times. Edward was already there when I went inside. I apologized for my tardiness even he was just a bit early.

Edward cleared his throat as we were eating our lunch. The silence was deafening. The polite conversation we had while waiting for our food did nothing to ease the awkwardness. It might be the wiring, but there was some sort of static in the air. I used the silence to really look at him. He was a handsome guy. That would be putting it lightly. I had always had this notion that if a boy had his mother's face, the guy would be handsome. To have a bit feminine mixed in with the masculine. He definitely had that.

When I saw that his plate was empty, I realized that the throat clearing was to indicate that he had finished his food. I stopped eating, putting the fork and spoon down on the plate and taking a sip of my drink. He cleared his throat again, that maybe his nervous tick, and grabbed something from his pocket: the receipt for his car. Rose was almost right in her deduction; the total was only a hundred dollars short of what she had predicted.

"Mr. Cullen, – I have to admit – I don't have the money to pay for your car, but I was thinking that, maybe I would pay for you in instalments? Would that be okay with you?" I didn't look up to see his face until I was finished speaking.

"First of all, you can call me Edward. Second, Miss Swan, I'm not here to collect payment from you. I'm here to make a proposition. Let me be clear: you are allowed to say no. I know this is sudden and you will be given time to think. You don't have to give me an answer now…" he started to ramble.

"Mr Cullen–sorry–Edward, could you just get to the point? Your rambling is scaring me. And you can call me Bella," I interrupted him.

"Right. I was just saying that I'm not here to collect payment from you, Bella. I'm willing to disregard the payment actually, provided that you agree to this proposition I'm about to make."My eyebrows had knitted together and I guess now it looked like a caterpillar was sitting on my forehead. He looked reluctant to make the proposition but he was going to make it anyway because it was important, life changing probably.

"Marry me." Was all he said after a pregnant pause.

Another pregnant pause ensued as I stared into his eyes. His very green eyes that were looking back at me, never breaking contact. There was no sign of mirth in his eyes at all. He was dead serious and that was starting to scare me.

My heart started to go into overdrive. From the ridiculous proposal he just made or simply from his stare, I didn't know. It gave me goose bumps, this staring contest we got going on. I looked away first, my eyes to my lap where my hand lay twisted together. This couldn't be happening. I started to look around, hoping Rose would jump out saying 'smile, you're on candid camera', but no such thing happened.

"Is this…are you…if this is a prank, it's a very elaborate one. Did you ram into me on purpose? No I was the one who rammed into you. Is Rose on this too? But I would know if she was lying. Did she tell you when I get off work?" Now, I was rambling.

He interrupted me. "No, none of that, Bella. I'm very serious. "

But I wasn't done with my theories. "Are you a pimp? Is this some latest M.O you're trying? Let me tell you this: it isn't working."

Edward actually laughed at that one – a real throaty laugh. "You are actually funny." Did he think I was serious person all the time? Of course I was capable of being funny. Although I wasn't making a joke before.

He turned serious again and said, "I know how ridiculous this must seem." I made a face that resembled the internet meme, 'you don't say' starring Nicholas Cage. If he knew, he ignored it. "But I am very serious and very desperate."

"No, Edward. I don't think you understand. You are asking me to marry you, and in turn, I don't have to pay for your car. Which is expensive, yes, but I have about half the amount now, so, I don't think paying you would be that much of a problem. Don't you think that would make me look bad? Like I'm some kind of a gold digger – or worse, a whore!

He looked angry at the mention of a whore. I might have insulted him, but he had to realise the gravity of his request.

"Don't call yourself a whore, its degrading. Yes, we would be married, but I'm not asking you to sleep with me. It's not a real marriage. It's a pretend marriage. I promise I won't bother you when this is all over."

"You say that, but how will it end? Will we fight? Or will it be an amicable split, citing irreconcilable differences in the divorce paper? How will it work? When there is a family event, you will pick me up from my place? Have you got that all figured out?"

He looked stunned at my questions.

_Well, he should come prepared._

"I haven't got all that figured out. Like I said, I was desperate. I didn't think about any of that. If you say yes–if you agree– we'll figure it out."

"Honestly, Edward. I didn't spew all those questions for us to 'figure it out'. I said all that to make you realize that this is a serious matter, and frankly, I want you to think that this is impossible to be done. You should have thought this through before you made the proposal to me. I'm sure you know how this work. To make a proposal you should have all details well thought out. I'm sorry I can't help you." I rummaged through my bag and produced a check.

"Bella, please," Edward begged. "I really need your help. You can ask for anything. You're a student right? I'm sure you need a lot of money. I was a student too. I know how hard it was if you don't have the money. Anything you ask for, I will give it to you." He was telling the truth. He really was desperate. It showed in his voice and his eyes.

"Edward, this is a serious matter. I'm sure you understand that. Not only that, but I am too young to be married. Marriage itself is a promise you make in the house of God. For some people, it's a once in a lifetime thing. I want to be one of those people. I may not be as religious as I should be, but I do not pretend. Especially in the presence of God."

"I understand. But I'm running out of time. I don't want to be married to my mother's choice. The girl is awful!"

"Your mother's choice is not a stranger to you. Do you really want to be married to me? Someone you barely know?"

"I don't want to marry because I know that girl because I know what she's like. She changes men like she changes clothes. That kind of woman isn't fit to be a wife. And mother? Far cry from it."

"Marrying me isn't going to change that. I won't mother your child either," I said to him.

"At least I could find my own bride with my own time. Not with a timer on my head."

"Why do you have to do this, Edward? Why are you forced to get married?"

"Because my mother thinks it's the best resort for me," he mumbled.

"If I say yes, how long will we be married for?"

"We'll figure it out when the time comes. I'll give you time to think about it." I thanked him and got up.

As I was nearing my truck, Edward caught up to me. "Keep it," he said, giving my check back to me. "Even if your answer is no, Bella, you can call me at the number I used to call you the other day."

Back home, Rose was laughing her ass off. It had been about 10 minutes, going on 20 now. Every time she almost stopped, she would start again and I was at my last nerve.

"Would you stop it?!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, Bella. This is un-freaking-believable. Only you could get into this kind of situation. I don't think this will ever stop being funny. When we are old and wrinkly, this will be hell of a story to tell your grandkids. And mine, since I get the special privilege of experiencing it with you." I smiled at that. That was a promise that we would friends forever. That was better than saying 'let's be friends forever' outright.

"I'm actually in a crisis, Rose. This will be funny, but it isn't right now."

"Should we tell Jake when he's here tomorrow?"

I shook my head vigorously. Jake didn't go to school with us, but he went to a school quite close to us. He tried to meet with us every two weeks since meeting every week resulted in unfinished homework for the three of us. If he couldn't come to us, we would go to him. Jake had a key to our house, so we didn't actually have to wait for him, but the problem was that he was a morning person and every single time he came to visit, he would arrive at our door step bright and early. Well, not the doorstep, since he had a key, but he would tap on our bedroom doors very loudly since he didn't want to enter our rooms.

"Wake up, girls. I got breakfast. Bagels for the ice queen, and waffles for the brown eyed girl!"

That was his usual greeting. We rarely had bagels and waffles so the food wouldn't lose its novelty. Sometimes we ate breakfast in silence in front of the TV, laughing at the cartoon that was showing. This time when he came, it was no different. Once Rose and I were showered and fresh, the three of us just sit in front of the TV again. We went out for lunch and dinner. During those times, we would catch up. Rose and I kept quiet about the accident and the subsequent proposal. My truck was strong enough that there was no dent from crashing into Edward's car. After Jake left for the night, I received a text.

_Bella,_

_This is my personal number. Please take your time to think it through. If possible, I would like your answer before mother's day._

_-E_

Mother's day was two months from now. That should be sufficient time, I thought to myself.

Since meeting Edward at the Tavern, I had been thinking the same thing over and over: Why me?

Edward had looks, he had money. That was obvious by the car that he was driving, and also his brother's car. He had to have other resources in getting him out of his deal with his mother. He could certainly find other women to play the part as his wife. He was paying me too, not just making this an exchange for the payment of the car.

So, again, I ask myself, _"why me?"_

Was his unwavering decision of choosing me some sort of a sign from above that I should take his offer?

Since I really didn't want to think about it anymore, I ignored the whole proposal thing. I told Rose about the proposal because she would get mad if I didn't, but told her to ignore it too. I focused on my tests and quizzes before I got back to thinking about the proposal. When I didn't think I could stall anymore, I started thinking, with Rose by my side. With all the stalling, I was left with only three weeks to mother's day.

"Tell me, Bella. Were you even tempted to agree to the proposal back at the Tavern?"

Now that I thought about it, part of me really wanted to say yes. What tempted me most was the fact that the said that I could ask for anything. There were only three things on my mind: paying tuition, helping Charlie build the library back home, and paying rent. But as much as I wanted to say yes, there were other things I had to consider.

Charlie wouldn't believe me if I said I found a guy and I wanted to marry him because I was in love with him, let alone this. The guy had guns and the license to fire them for God's sake.

Renee as I remembered it, was a dreamer, and believed in true love and all that. However, she decided to leave Charlie and I because she thought Forks was too dull for her. Nobody knows where she was now. But the only thing from her that I kept was her advice when I was 14, a day before she left, "Sweetie, you are a bright girl, and bright people don't get married before they are 30. Trust me." I suspect she was a bit out of it during that talk, but I had listened to her, since that was the last advice she gave me.

"Maybe. But decisions that was made without being thought through had never ended up well," I answered Rose.

Rose then produced a note pad and a pencil for us to think of pros and cons of the deal. In the end, if one weighed more than the other, then we had our answer. An hour later, the note pad was almost full.

On the pros column:

**Tuition paid.**

-I didn't really approve this one. I will let him pay half. No more.

**No more skipping meals.**

-"It's unhealthy," said Rose.

**No part time work.**

-It was taking its toll on my studies, and I was tired all the time.

On the cons column:

**Married to a stranger. **

I shouldn't even be married.

**Time.**

-How long should I be married to him?

**Lie to his family.**

-I am a bad liar. We might get caught.

**Lie to Charlie.**

-Do police chiefs have training in lie detecting?

"So… no, then?" Rose asked. When I didn't answer, she asked, "What is your heart telling you?

Cognitive dissonance. A feeling you had when you have made a purchase and it turned out not to be what you expected it to be. When Rose said that a shirt looks good on me, if I didn't feel elated to it, I wouldn't buy it. Sometimes, the item had ended up on the counter, if I had a bad feeling about it, I wouldn't purchase it. 'No elation, no purchase' was my motto. This was what I was feeling when I thought of declining Edward's offer. I always follow this feeling. Even now, when no purchase was being considered, Saying no didn't really go well on me.

"Saying no is a bad idea," I answered her honestly.

"Then it's a yes." She looked at me and continued, "Bella, you were hurt –I get it – but this isn't like that. There are no feelings involved. Maybe someday feelings would be involved, but it's a good thing, you can finally get over the douche and get to know Edward. You are actually lucky. You get to skip a step and move in." Seeing me narrowing my eyes in an expression that said 'what are you talking about?' she backtracked. "That is, if feelings are involved."

"Firstly, I am not even going to justify whatever rambling you just did there. Secondly, I am over the douche. I just have trust issues. But you were right. In some ways, there will be no feelings involved, and I don't really have to trust him, do I? I just have to show up where his family is and make friends."

The next day, I sent the text.

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Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated


	5. His Mother's Day

**Sorry for the late update.**

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**His Mother's Day**

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_Literally…_

I was in a meeting when a buzz alerted me to a text coming in. I ignored it, but at a lull in the meeting I read it. Overcome with joy, I leapt up and screamed, "Yes!"

Everyone in the room was shocked, and went silent. Quickly composing myself, I asked for the sales department to present. After the meeting was over, I ran to Jasper's office.

"Follow me." He was scrunching his eyebrows. "Now!" I hastily added when he didn't move. Jasper and I was running to Emmett's office. The workers were watching us, probably wondering why their bosses were acting like twelve year olds.

Once in Emmett's office I shouted, "The game is on!"And proceeded to read the text sent by God's gift from above, Miss Bella. Yes, I was that happy with her answer. "Mr. Cullen, I agree to your proposal."

And then they both were shouting and whooping, cheering along with me whether they were really happy about it or were just mocking me I couldn't tell. But I was sure Jasper was happy about it; he was the one who had to hear me whine about how my life was over because there was no way she would say yes to this. Hell, I wouldn't say yes to this. Although he didn't say, I knew he knew how I had kept myself glued to my phone, when I was frantically searching for it; he would calm me down and pointed to it. It was in the most ridiculous places, like behind the TV, which was planted on the wall, how was that even possible?

A month before Mother's Day, I was freaking out. The deadline was on my birthday, that give or take six weeks. I didn't know how this was actually done, but I thought I should get Bella used to my family and me to her family. Jasper was with me through most of that, which probably because he felt guilty. This was his idea. So, he felt like he was responsible for me. But lord, the idea that came out of his mind to cheer me up was deserving of a WTF award. He said we should grab a homeless person, groom her really well, pour a load of perfume on her and pay her for silence. Anyone but my ex was eligible.

After we calmed down, Emmett asked, "now what?"

That was right.

Now what?

"I guess we should see Bella. Like I said, the game is on. Every game has ground rules." When she said yes, a ton of weight lifted off of my shoulders and I could finally think clearly.

I texted Bella to come meet us at our office on Sunday.

When she arrived,she wasn't alone. She introduced her company as Rosalie, her roommate. Silence filled the space for a few awkward minutes and I saw that Emmett was eyeing Rosalie. Rosalie was in some sort of telepathic conversation with Bella. Their mouths didn't move but their eyes were very expressive. Bella's eyebrow was actually jiggling and I stifled a laugh at that.

Jasper broke the silence. "Well, Bella, Rosalie, you two were called here to discuss the marriage. Honestly, I have no use here. I took pre–law so Edward thought that should shake you guys up a bit. Making the plan legal." Both Bella and Rosalie looked at me. Rosalie had one of her eyebrows raised and I swear to God, I felt some chills. Damn that Jasper and his rambling. "Really, any agreements on any piece of paper as long as both of your signatures at the bottom – it's legit."

"Some sort of like ground rules, you mean?" Bella asked, ignoring Jasper's ramblings and getting straight to the point. It also didn't escape my notice that she used the exact same words as I did.

"Yes," I said.

"So first up would be…" Emmett trailed off.

"Duration," Bella said.

I remembered at the Tavern she was so strung up about wanting to know when this thing would end if she said yes. Guess she wasn't kidding.

"How long do you think is a sensible length for a happy couple to divorce?" I asked.

I saw Bella mouth "happy?" to Rosalie, who just laughed.

"I don't think happy couples get divorced that much, Edward," Rosalie said.

Emmett then said, "Should you guys pretend to be happy? I mean, if you weren't at least it will be more believable when you guys break up."

"But if they weren't happy, Esme will see through it and the cover will be blown." Jasper then piped in.

At the girls' perplexed look, I explained, "Esme is my mother." They then nodded at the same time. It was sort of freaky.

It was silent again as everyone was thinking about whether Bella and I should be a happy couple or not. At an impasse, we did what everyone was thinking about doing: we voted and it was decided that we would play "happy couple" with three to two. Rosalie and Emmett were the odd ones out.

"I'm thinking six months," Bella said. She really _really _wasn't kidding about duration.

"Nine," Rosalie said, Bella glared at her. She had an equally scary glare as Rosalie's.

"A year," Jasper said a hint of finality in his voice. He then explained himself. "You guys are playing a happy couple right? A year is sensible if you are so happy. Don't you think so, Edward?"

I nodded fervently and Emmett whispered in my ear, "whipped." I really didn't mind spending more time with her. She was something else, this girl. I liked her.

I wanted to take a jab at him but both girls were glaring at me and double glares were much scarier.

"A year it is," Emmett said.

Bella pulled Rosalie aside and they both spoke in hushed voices at the end of the meeting room. Bella's hands were all over the place while Rosalie had her arms folded at her chest.

Finally they sat back down.

"I agree," Bella said. Well I certainly felt joyous, though she wasn't. "I have a question. Do the three of you live together?"

"Yeah," The three of us answered together.

"So when we are… we are … we are… are –"

"Married?" I finished for her.

"Yes. That. When we're _that_, what about the living arrangement?"

"Huh. Didn't think about that," I mused. That girl really followed through her questions back at the Tavern. That didn't even cross my mind.

"A roof over your head? That slips your mind?"

She was feisty.

"I like her," Emmett said.

I made a split second decision. "Well then, guys, I think I will be moving out. We are staying together after we get married, Bella. Won't that be fun?" I teased her.

"Not really," she whispered so softly I had to read her lips to make it out.

The discussion carried on for hours. By the end of it, we got a list of rules for everyone to follow:

**Whichever party (Edward or Bella) who that terminates the contract before the intended time (ONE year) will face a penalty of 10,000 dollars **(Edward)

_This was the grand rule. Obviously I issued the rule so she wouldn't run away. Ten thousand dollars didn't mean much to me ,but to her… she definitely wouldn't run. Devious, weren't I?_

**Edward Cullen, Isabella Swan, Jasper Whitlock, Rosalie Hale and Emmett McCarty must at ALL times keep this contract secret. None of the discussion in this room is to be repeated unless to the aforementioned people.** (Jasper)

_Jasper always thought everything through. I was amazed._

**If Edward or Bella breaks any one of the terms below, the other party gets to CHANGE one of the existing rules or ADD a new one. **(Emmett)

_This made it so much more fun. Thanks, Emmett._

**1) Bella and Edward will sleep in different rooms. **(Rosalie)

_Not really looking forward to this one. But all of them raise their hands so I was overruled. I was sounding more and more like a perv around Bella._

**2) Both parties must be home every night. **(Jasper)

_I couldn't understand the reasoning to this one. Again, I was overruled. 'I'm always home every night. So, that won't be a problem,' said Bella_

**3) Bella will do all the house chores. **(Bella)

_Rosalie gave Jasper a glare and he also raised his hand. Wuss!_

**4) Bella will act appropriately in the presence of Edward's family. **(Jasper)

Appropriately includes:

- Not raise suspicion of any one of the family.

- Answer any question regarding Edward correctly.

_'If you guys are a happy couple shouldn't you guys know everything about each other?' oh, now it made sense. _

**5) Edward will pay everything related to Bella's studies. **(Edward)

Everything includes:

- School fees

- Tuition fees

- Any school trips.

_Only Bella didn't raise her hand. Rosalie kind of appreciated this motion. Wonder why that was?_

**6) Edward cannot enter Bella's room. **(Bella)

_I don't want to enter your room, Bella, Even if I don't raise my hand on the motion that we sleep separately._

When that was over, Rosalie said she wanted to grab something to eat. Emmett and jasper went along with her. Emmett, I understood, had a crush on Rosalie. Why did Jasper have to follow? With just Bella and me in the room, the silence was more awkward. Maybe it was because the building was quite old, but there was some kind of static in the air. It kind of buzzed in my ear, almost like a mosquito, but much more pleasant.

"Why Mother's Day?" Bella blurted out.

"Our family has a tradition of using every holiday in the calendar as an excuse for a get together. With my father's work and Emmett's and my company, we couldn't find the time to get together every week like we used to. So my mom came up with that."

Bella looked wistful for a moment before answering, "That's so nice."

At her tone, I was quite afraid of asking, "what about you?" but I would need to know about her too. We weren't fooling only my family, but hers too. Before I could ask though, she volunteered the information.

"My parents were separated. So, I didn't really celebrate with a lot of people. Sometimes Rose would be there and Ja– and some friends. I have come to think of them as family."

In the time we had our conversation, I found that she lived with her father. On her 19th birthday, her father the chief of police in her hometown passed away in an accident. I felt sorry for her– no wonder she was so close to Rosalie. She was her only family. It pleased me to know that she could have my family as her own too now.

I quickly changed the subject as since Bella was looking pensive. "So, on Mother's Day, I would really like for you to come and meet my family. Just dinner, nothing fancy."

She chuckled, more nervous than after she hit my car. "That fast?"

"Don't worry. I'll be there next to you. You can count on me." I smiled at her worried face.

"I guess I should get to know you better then. Don't want to be slacking now." She nudged me with her shoulder. "And let you change the contract." That little contact with her had static more frenzied.

Rosalie's laugh signaled that they were back along with Jasper threatening Emmett to ruin the Jeep if he didn't shut up. They brought back Chinese food. I had no problem with it but Bella certainly did. She was sighing and glaring at the same time. Then I knew what her problem was. She was concentrating very hard on her noodles trying to not let them fall but to no avail. She huffed and almost growled. Rosalie just snickered at her upon hearing that, but Bella held her right hand, palm up, and curled her fingers twice.

"Thought you'd never ask." Rosalie produced a fork wrapped in tissue from her pocket. Emmett was openly laughing at this point. "I love eating Chinese without the comfort of our home, where you can't run and get the fork yourself." Rosalie then turned to us. "Bella never knew how to use chopsticks. I gave up teaching her a few years back, but our friend, Ja–,"

"All right. That's enough joking at my expense. Let's just eat." Bella cut her off. It was the second time the word "Ja" came up. Would that be Jasmine, Jennifer? More importantly why didnt Bella want to mention her?

It was then that I made a vow to make sure she knew how to use chopsticks before the contract expired. After the girls left, Jasper said he would have the contract typed and would call us when it was ready to be signed.

I took Bella's suggestion seriously and went to the park near her house the next week to have our revision since Mother's Day was getting nearer. I doubted that Esme would quiz her on the details of my life but we could never be so sure since Alice would also be there. The both of them together could spell disaster.

The day had finally come. Jasper wished me luck, which I really needed. As the sun set, my thoughts were getting crazy. The things that invaded my mind were starting to scare me.

What if she decided not to come?

What if she has a class all of a sudden?

Emmett was looking at me then, telling me to calm down, and assured me that Bella would be here. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. I already announced that we would be having a guest tonight. Mom thought it would be Jasper. I didn't correct her – this would be a surprise for them. Mom was given the day off today. So, the cooking was done by the rest of us: Dad, Alice, Emmett and yours truly. We spent years to get to where we were now. But the first dinner we cooked together for Mother's Day was a disaster. It was still a very dear memory to all of us.

Mom rolled up her blueprints; she had been working on more of those nowadays. "Is it ready yet?" she asked as she walked to the kitchen.

"Five minutes, Mom!" Alice shouted from behind me. My eyes widened at her shrill voice.

When my work in the kitchen was done, I went and set the table for six. I was anxious because I hadn't heard Bella's car yet. That truck could be heard from miles away. She needed no honk.

Right then, I heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" I placed the last spoon and walked to the door.

"Hi," Bella shyly said. She looked different from than the usual I always saw her in. Jeans and a shirt. It was a nice change. I was kind of openly staring at her.

I shook my head. "Hi, I was starting to think I was being stood up."

She laughed softly bumped my shoulder as she said, "I can't do that to my pretend fiancée. I have to make a first impression. Not ruin it. I got lost. Made a wrong turn at that huge blue house down the road. Maybe the GPS was faulty."

Not even a boyfriend, I was upgraded to a fiancée. That was some serious upgrading and she gave me butterflies when she called me that.

"Yeah, happens all the time. Oh, forgive me. Come on in."

She let out huge puff of air, "I'm kinda scared." So was I, but I probably shouldn't mention it.

"Don't be. I'm here aren't I? Emmett is here too. I got your back." I smiled at her. She only gave me a small smile back.

I stepped aside and let her walk ahead of me. I called out to them and waited as they came to front door.

"Hi, it's so nice to finally meet you all. Edward told me so much about you." She turned to my mom. "You have a very lovely home."

"She designed the interior herself," I told her.

Bella exchanged pleasantries with all of them. It got awkward when it was Emmett's turn, what with Bella not knowing whether to hug or just shake his hand. Emmett helped her by pulling her into a bear hug and I noticed he whispered something in her ear. She laughed at what he said as he put her down.

What was that I was feeling at the sight? I was not quite mad, but there wasn't any other word I'd use. Could it be hunger?

They looked shocked. Good. My surprise worked.

"Let's all go to the dining room. Dinner's ready. I'm sorry, Bella. Edward didn't say who our guest was. We were a little shocked," Esme said.

If they had seen their faces, they wouldn't say "a little shocked."

"If I knew he'd bring a lady over, I would have cooked myself. The boys and Alice cooked this."

"That's all right. He said I'm your Mother's Day present." That was a good point. She looked at me. "You cooked? I didn't know that." Incredulity was apparent in her voice.

"Well, you must give it a try then." I pulled her chair out and saw Mom smiling at me. _My perfect gentleman_, she called me.

"They didn't do such a bad job. All those years ago, yes. We ended up eating outside. But they've really improved," Mom explained.

Only the clinking of utensils was heard as everyone was digging in. Bella turned to me and whispered, "This is kinda good. I'm really amazed."

I just gave her a smug smile. "Don't look so happy; I can cook better than you," she said.

"Well, I will have a full year to eat your cooking."

Emmett then interrupted us. "so, Bella. How's your tank?" I kicked his shin under the table. "I mean truck." He coughed.

Bella looked at me again. "You called my truck a tank?"

"It got into an accident and came out fine. It could well be a tank." She just shook her head.

"It's fine, Emmett." The rest of the family was waiting for our explanation. Emmett took the liberty.

"Remember the accident Edward got into? Bella here," Emmett pointed at her, "is the other driver."

That received applause from Carlisle and Alice, while Esme just looked almost shocked. They obviously hadn't seen what a monstrosity Bella's truck was.

"Was that how you two met?" Alice asked. Bella and I just nodded. "That's cool. You guys met under very unusual circumstances. It would be a great story to tell your relatives."

From the corner of my eyes I saw that Bella was looking pensive again. Noticing the silence, Alice spoke up. "Did I say something wrong? I'm sorry, Bella."

"It's nothing. It's just that I'm an only child and so is my father. So I don't have relatives. But he died three years ago. Spending the time with you really means a lot to me."

"Any friend of Edward's is considered family to us, Bella. You are a part of the family now." Carlisle said.

The silence then was lifted with Emmett cracking jokes and the atmosphere was back to normal. The only downside to it was that I was the target for most of Emmett's jokes. I had to admit that some were funny. Others were just plain annoying. And I groaned every time he got to the punch line. He wouldn't even let me explain myself. I just released a huge sigh every time. I also found that Bella would rub her hands up and down my hands to calm me down, which helped, but I thought she wasn't even aware she was doing it because she was laughing so heartily, her eyes closed and her other hand covering her mouth.

The little interrogating my family did help me learn more about Bella, which I found out I wasn't averse to know about. She was a student of mass communication, majoring in journalism. Alice then cut to the chase, and asked whether we were dating or not. Bella looked at me, waiting for me to answer.

"We're dating and trying to get to know each other." Bella answered.

"Does she know?" Mom asked.

"I do." Bella answered before I got the chance. "About a month after we met he broke the news to me. I was angry; I thought he was using me." She stopped and smirked at me. "After I thought of it, if he was using me, the relationship would have gone about a different way. He explained everything to me, and I trusted him." She patted my hand on the table and smiled at me. No smirking, no glint of amusement in her eyes, just a sweet, natural, smile as if she were retelling the story from her memory.

That smile caught me and we found ourselves holding each other's gaze. A click from a phone snapped us back to reality and I saw Alice put her phone away. I looked at Mom and saw her looking very content. That gave me a pang of guilt for lying to her. But as I said to Bella, this was just to buy some time so I could really find someone I could love and marry without the pretense or time ticking over my head. Then, maybe mom would be as happy to see me with her as she saw me now with Bella.

When everyone was done eating, Emmett and I cleared the plates away and brought the desserts in.

"I made this one," I said to Bella as I set her plate down.

"_We _made this one," Emmett said.

"No, you ruined the first batch. I had to do it all over again. Next year, I want Alice on my team. You can do the main course with dad." I turned to Bella and said, "I guarantee the desserts would be more delicious next year."

Alice put her palm up and I high-fived her.

When dinner was over, the girls took Bella to the kitchen with the excuse of doing the dishes. _Yeah, because the dishwasher required three people to operate it_. When Alice passed by me to go to the kitchen I stopped her in her tracks and begged, "Keep the inquisition to the minimum please."

Dad, Emmett and I made our way to the living room to watch baseball. My head wasn't really in the game seeing since Bella was in the kitchen with Alice and Esme. Those two could beat cops when it came to squeezing information out of people. Try as I might, I couldn't make out any sound coming from the kitchen, only Alice's voice accompanied by her fast clapping.

"See, I told you that you were a sucker for hot girls," Emmett said.

Bella was not the kind of girl that boys would call hot – I would lean more towards cute. Hot could sometimes be referred to lack of clothing or slutty, and she was definitely not that.

"She's a nice girl, Edward. Did you guys set the date or anything?"

As Bella and I had discussed the other day, it would be too suspicious to already be engaged since we met only three months ago. Honestly, I didn't know what else I had to do. Mom said to find a bride before my next birthday. Check. What she didn't say, however, was to get married. A big light bulb just lit on top of my head. That was the loophole.

Why hadn't I seen this before?

That could have saved me a year's worth of headache. Jasper was a lawyer, so wasn't it his job to find loopholes?

One part of me wanted to get out of the deal, while the other side wasn't all that sure.

Dad repeated his question, and again he was met with silence as I thought about it. "Don't you think it's too early? I mean, I only met her a few months ago.

"You will know when the time is right, Edward. It didn't take me long to propose to your mother, once I realized I was done searching and she was the one."

Emmett just nodded. I wondered if he was playing his part or if he really agreed with what dad had said. My eyes glanced at the kitchen again. I couldn't help it.

Emmett noticed and said, "she'll be fine, Edward. Leave them be."

She emerged from the kitchen about ten minutes later. She went to my side immediately. "I have to go now. Dinner was lovely, guys. Happy Mother's Day, Esme. I'll see you soon." She hugged everyone goodbye.

"I'll walk you out," I said as she hugged Alice, who was hugging her and also swaying her left to right. I smiled at that. Alice always had always wanted a sister.

I shut the door behind me as we went outside. "Did they give you a hard time in the kitchen?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle. You worry too much. your secret's safe but we need to talk. Tomorrow?" She raised her eyebrows in question. It was then that I saw her eyes were quite watery.

We walked down the steps and I saw Bella's ride. She saw me looking. "It's Rose's. Nice, right? Not my type really; I liked my truck better."

_Well, I hate your truck. Your truck hurt my car._

She got into the car and started the engine.

From my peripheral vision I saw Emmett and Alice peeking.

Busybodies.

"They're watching," Bella whispered to me.

"Well, I guess we better put on a show."

I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. I could hear Alice squealing all the way from where I was standing. Bella looked flushed but I couldn't be sure as it was dark.

"Drive safely," I said to her as I walked backwards. I waited until she drove off before I went inside.

"I really like her, Edward. Nice change from the parade of bimbos you bring around here," Alice said as I shut the door behind me.

Judging from her statement, Bella and I had put on quite a convincing show. Maybe this was the thing called "chemistry" the movie critics kept talking about.

"I wished you would have told me you were bringing someone over. I would love to cook for her," Mom said.

Dad gave her a look. "I didn't say anything about your cooking, dear. Don't give me that look."

I really wanted what my parents had; they weren't each other's first relationship but it looked like they had never been with anyone else. As Mom said before, this could be the chance for me to get better, to put the past behind, and be trusting again. So, yes, I would marry Bella. Loophole or no loophole, I would marry her, if only to buy me some time then be it.

If she were destined to be the one, then so be it.

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thank you for reading.

reviews are appreciated.


	6. Her Plans

****I'm really sorry about the late update.

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**Her Plans**

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I left at about 11 am to meet Edward. He was already there when I arrived. He always was. Even though, it was only walking distance from my place, he always beat me to it.

"Your mom asked about us settling down last night. I said it was too early considering the circumstances we met in, but I really think that we should start thinking about setting a date. It will be easier for me to plan my studies and everything."

"Okay. I really don't mind whenever. But you have class and exams. When will be the best time for you?" Edward asked.

"That's the thing. Before we set a concrete date, I have a few conditions." I broached hesitantly.

"Shoot." He replied with a grin. He really seemed at ease about this whole thing.

"The one year mark should end before my graduation, which is in two years. I don't want the wedding to be big." I bit my lip, contemplating. I didn't have much experience with weddings; my only experience came from Saturday nights with a box of chocolate in my PJ's, sitting next to Rose, watching Four Weddings. "Should I be talking to you about this? The groom usually has very little say in a wedding. Maybe I'll talk to your mom about it."

I really wanted a small wedding. Not because the wedding was fake, or that we were just getting married on paper, because if I was getting married for real I would still want that. I mean, it was my wedding; I will have the say in who comes and goes. Edward agreed on that, the scale possibly being small, but, in return, he wanted everything top notch. And I do mean everything; the caterer, the band, the flowers even. I agreed with him because he had met me halfway and well, that's what marriage is all about.

"Back to the date then. Your semester break is in two weeks, right?" Edward asked, looking deep in thought.

"Yes."

"Are you doing anything? Going somewhere?"

I didn't know where he was going with this, but I wanted to spend the summer with Charlie, seeing as he thought my parents were dead, I doubt I could go see them once we were married. So I lied.

Again.

I was getting better at it, and wasn't something I was proud of.

"Um, I have a road trip planned with Rose. We've been planning it for months. I even set up a bank account so I wouldn't skim…" I might have given too much information. I said I was getting better, but I still sucked a little bit.

"How long would it be?" he asked again.

"We haven't decided on that yet. A month, maybe?"

"So we can't get married this summer. Next semester break then. December, right?"

So that was where he was going. I thought he wanted me to celebrate Father's Day with his family, considering the Cullens celebrated everything in the calendar.

"Yeah." Christmas. I wanted to spend Christmas with Charlie. "Can the wedding be after Christmas?"

"Whatever you say. You're the bride." Of course he agreed. "So are we done? Let's have lunch. I'm starving."

I hesitated. I hadn't brought my purse with me because I didn't think I'd need it. I'd only grabbed my phone on the way out. But I was hungry. Oh, the dilemma.

He must have understood my dilemma because he started speaking before I had a chance to protest, "You're gonna eat with me for a year. Better start practicing now." That settled it, and also the fact that I was going to pay him back.

He had a triumphant look when I relented.

We arrived at the restaurant. The waitress came and took our orders. It didn't escape my attention that she was flirting with him. That was another thing I didn't understand. He could have had anyone he wanted, but he insisted on waiting for my answer up until the last minute, when he didn't even know what my answer would be.

The waitress–and I–were bewildered when Edward didn't flirt back. Honestly, I was confused.

"When should we tell them we're engaged?" I asked him.

"Shouldn't that be up to me–the groom–to decide?" he winked at me. A gesture I scoffed at.

"When I said tell them, I really mean tell them. I don't want you to get down on one knee and everything."

"Like I said, it would be to the groom to decide."

"Edward, I'm serious about this. Look at it this way – everything else is fake. Why shouldn't the engagement be too?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know. This whole thing is new to us right?" He nodded. "Just get a ring, I'll put it on, put our happy faces on, and shout, 'we're engaged' to your parents. A stainless steel ring from the flea market will do."

"But that's so cheap," he protested.

"My point exactly. No one will know the price of the ring. I don't want you to spend so much money on me or on the wedding either." The waitress set our food down on the table. She wasn't flirting anymore. When she left, I continued.

"I won't be long in your life, Edward. Just 12 months, starting next year. You have spent a lot of money on my account. The car, the fees, I don't want you to add the ring and the wedding and anything else to the list. I won't be able to pay you back and I will be ridden with guilt." I had had enough of that already.

"I don't mind spending money on you, Bella. If I don't spend my money on you, who else can I spend it on? Money is not a problem for me, and it's only piling up, with me and Emmett's company, Carlisle and Esme's jobs. I never asked you to pay me back, and I never will. Maybe you should just accept that and be done with it."

"No! I will not accept it, or be done with it, or get used to it. You should get used to spending your money on someone else. There are lots of other people who are far more deserving; the waitress, for instance, or the homeless people."

"They are lazy asses who don't want to work. It's their fault they ended up there."

"That's very presumptuous of you. You don't know what happened to them, and it should be in your conscience to help those in need."

We had a scowling contest and no one was backing down.

"Fine." He was the first to break it. "I'll give a dollar to every homeless person I see after this all right? Happy now?"

"Very much." I smiled so widely that started to smile too. "Thank you for your kindness, sir. I wanna ask you something." He nodded for me continue as he had food in his mouth. "When is your birthday?"

"Next month." He smiled wider. "You didn't do your homework. You didn't even know my birthday. Lucky they didn't ask that last night."

"The exact date?"

"Why should I tell you? I told you everything already." His chin jutted up a little.

I was about to press him for the date but his phone rang and he motioned for me to be quiet. He was talking real low and his eyes sometimes fell on me.

"All right, I'm coming…Yeah, she's with me..."

I sucked on the straw and raised my eyebrows, asking silently, Who was that?

"It's Jasper. The papers are ready. We need to get to the office." Fortunately, today was Sunday. No one would be there.

I called Rose on the way over. When we arrived, she was already there with Jasper and Emmett. We took our seats, and Jasper produced four sets of the agreement. Edward took no time to sign all four sets of the papers.

I took a deep breath and let it out a few times and signed them all as well. We each took our copies and left. The drive back to my place was quiet. This is my way out, this will be worth it. I didn't want to dwell on it anymore. I just wanted to get it over with. My life would change; there was no turning back.

Little did I know what the agreement with a certain Edward Cullen would lead to. Had I known, I would have driven carefully so I wouldn't meet him and none of the next things would ever happen. Come to think of it, no, I wouldn't change anything though I had the chance. Maybe this plan was the best plan, no matter how many people I'd hurt in the long run.

"Wait here. I'm gonna go in and get my money to pay you for lunch. Wait here. Don't move." I emphasized on the last two sentences as I opened the door.

When I unlocked the deadbolt, I heard two honks. I turned around to see him speeding away. His hand was out the window, waving. Stupid shiny Volvo owner.

I took my phone out and typed out a text.

Ur gonna pay for that, Edward!

But I was the one paying him back…ugh, I don't care. I hit send. I went inside and stomped angrily to my room.

I thought u r paying me back?

I racked my brain for a reply, but I didn't have any witty comeback. Another text came in.

What? No reply? How 'bout this, that lunch was on me. Next time, you can buy me dinner or something. Sounds fair?

Not a bad idea.

Fine. But I'm only allowing you to do that once. Don't do it again. And no texting while driving! It's dangerous.

"Why are you growling?" Rose came to my room and sat on the bed.

"Your car is so damn fast." It was no secret that her car was made for speed, but she had even change her clothes. That meant she was already here for about 20 minutes.

"Nah, he was driving slowly." She replied.

What should I tell Rose? He won't let me pay him back, or he drove off when I asked him to wait.'

"Nothing. A wonderful idea came to me as I was talking to Edward this morning," I said, changing the subject he subject.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A road trip. What do you think?"

"I'm down. What brought this on?"

"I won't get to spend that long a time with you next year. So I'm gonna try to spend as much time with you, Jake, and Charlie as possible."

"Okay. When?"

"This summer. I'll spend about two weeks or more with Charlie in Forks and then we can get on the road. All three of us."

"You, me, and Charlie?"

"Jake! Not Charlie. We can use my truck. More baggage space."

"Your truck? It will take us ages to arrive to one destination. We'll call Jake tonight and discuss this. But Bella, it will be expensive," Rose said.

"Don't worry, I got it covered. I saved some money to pay for the Volvo, and the semester is coming to an end, so I won't be using that much money. Next semester they'll renew my scholarship. I'll just be very thrifty for the next semester. But for now, I want to have fun!"

"Finally, you get to loosen up. I love fun Bella. Go away, hardworking, grade falling, meal skipping, cashier Bella!'

"Not quite yet, Rose. The Finals are tomorrow. Then, we can go crazy!"

"Woooooo!" we both shouted.

Jake came over for dinner, and I told him the plan. He was excited to join us. As for transportation, Rose said she would take care of it.

I really couldn't wait for the trip. I had been the responsible one all the time. Whenever they came up with a plan, I would be the one to tell them to rein it back a little and plan carefully, to be the mother hen to them. But to be the one to come up with a plan was quite fun. This time, however, maybe we wouldn't need to plan too much; I was planning on being reckless. Besides, there was a saying I heard that goes "unplanned moments are better than planned ones."

In a way, I should thank Edward for releasing this side of me that I didn't know I had. The side that wanted to go all out, knowing she didn't have much time to hang out. It was almost as if I was diagnosed with cancer with only five months to live.

I guess I would come out differently when the one year elapsed, maybe not dramatically, but I was sure something would change. You don't go into a marriage and come out of it the same as you entered into it.

I just didn't know how right my statement was going to be.

It was finally the end of the gruesome exam week. I was anticipating summer, and now I understood the whole thing with High School Musical 2; I suddenly felt like singing along to "What Time Is It?" It was kind of weird, anticipating summer but knowing I was going where the sun didn't even hit.

I was alone on my way to Forks; Rose was with her parents on some island, getting full access to the sun, whereas Jacob decided to work that one month he had before we started the road trip. That left me alone in the ever-rainy Forks.

I usually worked during the summer, waiting tables next to Jake's workshop. But I decided to skip since I wanted to spend some quality time with Charlie. He might get suspicious when I spent the whole month with him, but I thought he would like it too much to actually complain or ask questions.

Charlie wasn't home when I arrived, and the house looked untouched. Dust covered every space that Charlie was least likely to use, which were the stove and the kitchen table. He must have been eating on the sofa while watching the game. I went upstairs, and my room looked the same as before–I doubted he even came in here.

The bathroom was my next stop. It didn't look too bad, but the floor was getting slippery from lack of cleaning. I took a shower and cleaned the bathroom as well, and then I took a short nap and headed downstairs right after.

I started cleaning all of the dust on the dresser, the frames, the TV, every surface I could reach – and everything that was sore to the eyes. There was practically nothing in the fridge except for leftover pizzas, some eggs, and cans of beer. Trust Charlie to always have his beer stocked. I was too lazy to go and buy the groceries, so I made dinner with what I had. I was sure some people had eggs for dinner. The Swan family did.

"Bells?" Charlie called out from the door.

"In here!"

"Smells good, Bells. I missed coming home to a home cooked meal." He saw my face and added, "But I missed you the most, kiddo," and gave me a one armed hug.

"I missed you too, Dad. We're just having some eggs tonight since there was nothing in the fridge. I wonder how you survived all this while."

"Eggs are better than pizza every night," he said as he took his usual seat.

"That's what I mean. How do you eat pizza every single night?"

"They have lots of toppings for one, and I can always eat at the diner if I get bored."

The dinner passed in silence. It was great to see him eating. He even asked for a second helping. When he finished that, he went off to watch some of the game.

"You're early this year," he pointed out as I joined him.

"Rose, Jake, and I planned to go on a road trip, so I came to visit you first before I go."

"All right, as long as Jake is there. He can take care of the both of you with his size. No funny business while you're out there, though. I have cop friends everywhere. Don't think they'll let you off easy just because you're my kid."

"Got it, Dad. Have I ever gotten myself into trouble?"

"Yeah. You're right. You need some time out anyway."

Everyone seemed to think that, didn't they?

His eyes went to my wrist, and I saw him smile. I went to find something similar to the bracelet I had lost. The one was a bit wider than the last, and the charm was the same thing but angled a bit differently. I doubt Charlie would notice the difference. Seeing him smile made me happy, knowing this little gesture meant a lot to him, me keeping his gift with me. I also felt sad, knowing that it wasn't the one that he gave me during graduation day.

I tried to make sense of the game, which was hard when you had no interest in any sports and you basically hated every sport that existed because you knew you couldn't play any of them. Stupid balance problem. The players only threw the oval ball around, catching it, and ramming other players. What's the name of this game anyway?

He asked questions and I tried to answer as honestly as I could. I spent the next few days strolling around Forks, walking down memory lane and feeling nostalgic. Also because the library was still under renovation and I couldn't hang out there. The silver lining to that would be: the library could finally update its book collection. The time I spent there during high school was enough to almost finish its entire collection in the English section.

It wasn't a very long walk, considering the size of Forks. I thought of buying groceries that would be enough in case Charlie was in mood for cooking. As bad as Charlie was in cooking, frying an egg or two shouldn't be hazardous, right? I doubted myself. Finally, I chose to buy groceries and cook for Charlie instead of letting him cook himself. I made some dishes that wouldn't stale quickly or that could be frozen. I would have to teach him how to use the microwave first, then.

I went to La Push next; it was kind of boring without Rose and Jake there. I sat by the beach, on the spot where the three of us always hung out. I never thought about it, but lying to Jacob was supposed to be much harder since I would be seeing him almost every day, and he knew me too well.

Another complication was I totally forgot about Jake while writing my pros and cons list. New on the cons list: lying to Jacob. I would figure that one out later with Rose. My phone beeped a new text from Rose. Speak of the devil. She sent me the details of the road trip, told me to meet her back at the apartment and that everything was already taken care of.

On June 30th, I wished Edward a happy belated birthday. I didn't know exactly when his birthday was, so I couldn't wish him a happy birthday unless it was the day of, or if the day hadn't passed yet. So to be safe, I wished him a happy birthday at the end of the month, when his birthday had definitely passed.

I was a genius.

I arrived at the apartment at about noon that 30th. On the 1st, Rose arrived with a very nice looking, shiny MPV.

One of the things that I liked about Rose was her connections. Now, we had a nice mode of transportation for our trip with lots of baggage space that would definitely benefit Rose and her shopping habit very much.

Road trip, here I come.

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i have written the chapter, but then i lost it. so, i had to rewrite it. it was also the finals week, so i had to postpone writing it.

thanks for reading.

reviews are appreciated.


	7. His Full Circle

I would like to thank my two betas: **smudgedcrimsonlipstick** and **ChocolateMango** for their help. I'm sorry for the late update.

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These are the songs that my beta listened to as she was correcting my grammatically challenged chapter.

Run by Daughter (she suggested _In The Shallows_ and _Youth_ also)

Only Love by Ben Howard

You Need Me, I Don't Need You by Ed Sheeran

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Just to clarify a whale is referred to as someone with a lot of money in the gambling industry. I take that word and put it in my story to refer to as a customer with a lot of money or will bring a lot of profit to the company.

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**His Full Circle**

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A year on from the agreement to find a girl to marry I made with Mom, it's my birthday again, and I'm sitting on the very couch the damn agreement was made. I swear I had flashback.. And yes, I was celebrating it today instead of the day Bella said yes or the day she signed the contract. Why? Because Mom had said 'next birthday' and not 'when you finally found a bride'. Actually, she did say that, but I was doing it today anyway because it felt proper, one year exactly after the deal was made.

Father's day was celebrated last week, and they asked a lot of Bella. Alice particularly pouted when she saw I was alone. Her lips jutted out even more when I said I hadn't proposed. Mom, too, was a little disappointed.

I mean seriously, did these people think getting engaged was easy? These people really need to let me take my time. I didn't know where this confidence they had of me had come from. Over the years, I did find out where their confidence of me came from. There was an incident that shook their belief, but never shattered it. The belief that Bella and I were made for each other. A lot of things had to be considered; there was a how, a where, and a what. _How do you propose? Where do you propose, where do you get the ring? What ring should you get?_ I had to get all those things settled before I could get down on one knee.

But the genius Bella didn't even want that. That_ also_ had to be considered. The bride didn't want to be proposed to; she only wanted to have a stainless steel ring from some flea market. As the day progressed, I realised one thing: she forgot my birthday, of all days. Here I sat, waiting for her to wish me a happy birthday because I forgot that I didn't tell her my birth date. Maybe I was hoping she would ask Emmett or Jasper about it. _Pathetic._ We hadn't contacted each other at all these past few weeks.

Bella was on her road trip with Rosalie. I was sure she was busy; and I didn't exactly have anything to say to her anyway. I liked the arguments we got into with each other, which seemed to be coming from only one source–money. I didn't understand this aversion she had to having money spent on her.

I threatened Alice not to put those party hats on anyone, or I wasn't coming home to my own birthday party. (Of course, I was joking.) I didn't, however, mind the candle blowing as I was in need of a wish right now. For example, 1) let the arrangement with Bella go as planned 2) Bella wouldn't get cold feet.

I wished for both.

Birthdays were not really celebrated as you got older. Everyone wished me happy birthday, I blew out the candles on the cake, everyone had dinner and that was practically it. That was the birthday celebration; the rest of the night was uneventful.

When everyone was asleep, I sat on my bed, having flashbacks of the previous years of my life. Life was easier for me―as it often is―when I was little, but my life became even easier when I moved to the States. When I lived in Italy, life was hell for a 2-year-old.

How easy you thought life would be in the future when you hadn't even experienced anything and you thought you had endured the worst. Life as a career man wasn't as easy as I thought. I was the Chief Operations Officer of the company Emmett, Jasper and I founded three years ago, EAW Inc. The three of us had different study background which was perfect for the formation of a company. Emmett was the CEO and Jasper the CFO.

We started small, but after three years, we had begun to become bigger. It wasn't as hard to search for clients, and now, most of the times, they came looking for us. Our company was an architecture company. College was a piece of cake compared to this. We went home late every night, sometimes after midnight. I wondered if I would have to carry on like this after I was married.

I had seen Mom wait for dad's arrival whenever he was paged late at night. She said she couldn't go back to sleep. I didn't want that for Bella. Though we would be sleeping in different rooms, and we were never friends to begin with, she might do it, or might not. If she chose the latter, I wouldn't mind coming home late.

So far, the things on my _to do_ list were to: get a ring, buy a house, move out of the old house, move into the new house and so much more. Jasper helped very little since he knew nothing about rings. Emmett was also not very helpful. _Figures._

How did you buy a ring? Since I couldn't depend on any of the boys, I asked the style guru of the Cullen household: Alice. She said Tiffany and co. was trending now. Her advice became more of a lecture when she started saying:

"Every girl needs a diamond. I personally think a girl's first diamond should come from a guy. Unless she's too impatient, then she can get one herself. Now, since marriage is a personal and private bind, you should have your ring personalized. Design it yourself based on what you have experienced with Bella. But that's only my opinion, of course. I doubt Bella cares about the price."

That really got me thinking. If Bella and I were an item for real, maybe her ring would have designs of cars, or money, since she hated people spending on her so much. That was what daydreaming was about, reminiscing on something that would never happen. A diamond ring? She'd kill me. A _customized _diamond ring? She'd skin me alive, or worse, she'd back out from the deal.

The hardest part was to follow both her instructions and my heart as well.

A knock on my door snapped me out of my reverie. Carlisle was at the door asking me to come with him to his office. Once I sat down, he opened his first drawer and took out a box. He motioned for me to open it.

In the box, stood a ring, the one I recognized as my mother's. _My biological mother._ I felt anger rising in me at the memory of her.

"What's this for?" I asked almost too rudely.

"Alice told me you were in need of a ring. I merely pointed you to a solution," he answered coolly. That made me feel guilty for being rude.

"But this is _her _ring." I tried to deliver the message of hatred without being rude. I ended up growling a little.

"I know, Edward. I bought it for her. No need to get angry. Listen to me." He stopped, waiting for me to calm down. "This ring meant a lot to me. It was a symbol for me. I didn't give this ring to Esme because giving her a ring that was my ex-wife's seemed a little cruel. My feelings for Esme are nothing like the way I felt for your mother."

"Don't call her that," I retorted. He continued like he didn't hear what I said.

"My feelings for your mother – I thought they were real, it turned out to be just lust and puppy love. I realized that a bit too late that we were never ready for marriage and everything was a mistake. But you were never a mistake. Thanks to you I got my head straight and became what I am now. I'm really grateful to you. And your mother, too; since you would never have been born without her," he calmly explained.

"With Esme," he continued, "I never felt doubt, never felt like it was a mistake. Nothing was forced and everything came so naturally. The ring Esme's wearing right now was of my design."

"What does this ring symbolize, then?" I pointed to it.

He looked at the ring thoughtfully. "It symbolizes first love, youth. Like you are now. Bella is your first love, and your love is still blossoming, or at the early stage."

"You were so much younger than I am when you got married."

"Yes, and I was considered to be old at that time. Well, not old, mature. And getting married then didn't even faze people."

"I don't know, Dad. If it meant so much to you, maybe you should keep it."

"Take the ring, Edward. Take it for what it meant, what it symbolizes. Not _who_ it was meant for."

So I took it. Bella couldn't get mad. I didn't spend any money on it. Carlisle saved the day!

Work was as busy as ever with two whales on hand. We were short staffed and all of us had to work extra hard. The staff didn't complain and that was the best thing. They were with us since day one and we were like a huge family; and that meant helping each other out through good and bad.

Emmett burst through my door the one rarely non-hectic day.

"It's a nice change to come in here and not see you playing with the bracelet. What was up with you and that bracelet anyway?"

_What bracelet? _I totally forgot the bracelet. I opened the drawer and there it sat, the blue bracelet. How many times had I sat here twiddling the bracelet around my fingers? The only memento I had of _that girl_.

"This?" I showed the bracelet to him. "Nothing. It just had good memories attached to it is all."

Not all people would say getting drenched in coffee was a good memory, but what could I say, that was some memory.

"Yeah, hot coffee is a very good memory. So good that you avoided it at all cost. Let's have lunch. I heard the coffee around the corner is to die for," he jested.

I slapped the back of his head and left him in my office to have lunch. Later that day, I had an appointment with a real estate agent. Being a development company, it wasn't hard to hire a good agent even if the commission was high.

She asked me to list down the things I look for in a house.

1) The house is on the ground, no penthouse, no condos, and no apartments.

2) Within 2 miles radius of Bella's college and my office.

3) 2-storey house

4) 5 bedrooms and bathrooms

5) Big front and back yard

6) No basement

7) An attic

Once she went through my list, she said to give her three days tops to find a few houses for me to choose from. She called me that weekend and we began to look at houses.

We entered the house one by one and none seemed to hold my interest; yard wasn't big enough, kitchen too big, bedrooms too detached, living room on the second floor and the problems most of the houses had was they weren't homey. I couldn't seem to picture myself living in the house. Though the family photos showed a very happy family was living in here.

I went to a total of five houses that day and another five tomorrow. She managed to find quite a number of houses in the short period of three days. Good for her.

That night, I called Mom and asked to lend me a hand in finding a house as she had many years of experience in this department. I picked her up and met with the agent at a house. Instead of five, we were going to look at a few more since I took very little time in saying no yesterday, she thought we could fit in a few more houses today.

"You're too picky, Edward," Mom said in my car on our way to another house. "Why don't you want a basement?"

"Horror movies always start from there," I answered, eyes still locked on the road.

"Five bedrooms?" She started questioning every aspect of the list I made for the agent.

"I'm going to convert one room into a study and the rest for you guys, just in case."

"Attic?"

"To put stuff in, since there'll be no basement."

"Big yard?"

"For me to play in. What's with the questions, Mom?"

"I don't get all these ridiculous demands you have over a house. You're lucky the agent is a nice lady. Were I her, I would have kicked you out the first step you took into the office."

"That is why you are called when the house is already purchased. Not before." Did I mention my mother was an interior designer?

"All joking aside, Mom, I'm gonna live in that house for possibly years." _One year only, actually_. "I'm not living alone, and I will have a lady living with me, so of course I'd have a lot of demands." That didn't really sound convincing. "Some of the demands are actually Bella's." She relented at the mention of Bella.

"That reminds me. What's her full name?"

_Is this a trick question? _

Come on, come on, think Edward. What was her full name? I just read it."Isabella Marie Swan."

"Yeah, I thought so. Bella usually is a short for Isabella. Where does she live?"

"She's living in Berkeley with her friend Rosalie." She continued asking questions until we arrived at the final house.

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I felt something. Maybe this house could be the one. I stepped in and the feeling doubled; Mom appeared to be agreeing with me. She had been disapproving the ones that I approved of and vice versa up until now. My phone beeped and I took it out of my pocket.

_Happy belated birthday!_

_P/s: I thought if I wished too early it wouldn't be a happy belated. So I wished at the end of the month._

_~Bella_

That was the sign. The sign that this was the right house. The feeling, Mom, and that Bella suddenly contacted me.

"We'll take it."

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Thank you for reading.

Reviews are appreciated.


	8. Her Road Trip

****Beta'd by the lovely Cal and Kenya.

Hello everyone. I would like to thank you for reading the story and your patience. God knows you're gonna need a lot of those when it comes to my irregular updating.

To new readers, welcome!

I received a lot of favorites and followers for the last chapter. Well, it's a lot for me.

So, thank you and I'm posting this quite early as a gift to you all.

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**Her Road Trip**

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"Company's car," was her only explanation. It meant her dad lent her the car.

The plan was simple. We each got to choose the place we wanted to go and had to drive to the location. After all three of us decided where we wanted to go, we consulted the map to see which place was the closest.

We went to Florida to watch the fireworks during the fourth of July. When Rose and Jacob weren't fighting over which radio station to listen to, we were singing along with all the songs that were playing on the radio. Watching them fight was entertaining; they both knew how to push each other's buttons, but it got old really fast.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this," I dramatically said as I rummaged through the dashboard to take out a CD that I burned earlier that consisted of all the songs that they didn't really listen to. "New rule. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole," I said as I put the CD in.

"You've got to lay off those Winchester brothers, Bella," Rose stated.

"Not a chance." She was asking me to stop watching the Winchester brothers? It's almost like asking a cat to be friends with a dog. Possible but very hard to do and almost a rarity.

The first three days were used to sight see, take pictures, and buy stuff that you couldn't get from any other place. Though that meant little to Rose, as she shopped till she dropped.

We had been camping since 11pm, booking the best place to watch the fireworks display. Lots of people were sitting on blankets, towels, or those cute chairs that I knew Rose was going to search for on the Internet. Jacob was buying snacks that should last until 1am. That was Rose's order. We watched a movie while waiting for the time to pass. Her laptop had an amazing battery life. We were so engrossed in the movie and snacking that we didn't even realize the time.

Suddenly, everyone around us was counting down from the giant digital clock, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

The three of us group hugged and jumped around and for the first time in my life, I felt patriotic. But it didn't last long when Jacob handed us some firecrackers and our childish side took over. Well, we _were_ in Disneyland. At 1am, we retired to get some sleep for tomorrow's parade.

The parade was awesome. We acted like tourists, buying flags and waving them around like little kids from the sideline and taking pictures. We cheered as loudly as we could even though the marching band drowned out the sound of our voices. I had been right to want to do this; it was so much fun.

After Disneyland, we moved on to Rose's choice of visit, a fashion show that her dad got us into. They weren't the best seats in the house, but we weren't complaining. We checked in to a hotel with Rose and me in one room and Jacob in another.

On the day of the show, Rose produced a very beautiful gown that just so happened to be my size. "Where'd you get this?"

"I found this in the clothing department."

"You took this from your father's company? Rose, that's stealing!"

No, that wasn't stealing; I was just being a little overdramatic and a little mad over the fact that her dad owned an advertising company. This means that she could go around my dislike of people paying for me or buying over the top stuff by just taking it from the clothing department or the gadgets department, or the utilities department, the list went on.

"It's not stealing if I am the owner's daughter; it's not stealing if he consented to it. It's new, try it on. You can't complain - it's free."

I tried it on and I had to admit, it looked good on me, but when Rose showed me the shoes that went with it, only one word came from my mouth.

"No, no, no, no," I said non-stop for about 10 minutes, circling the room with Rose hot on my heels – with the heels in her hands.

Jacob came knocking at our door. "Girls, come on! We're gonna be late."

We both stopped and looked at the door. "Bella, this is my trip. So can you please put these on? I didn't complain on your trip. If your feet hurt tomorrow, I will take you to a masseuse. Deal?"

And that was how I ended up with a pair of death traps on my feet. Jacob kept a close eye on me just in case I fell, but the show ended up being great. Some of the models were so skinny you could see their bones, which made them look creepy rather than pretty. I saw Rose eyeing a few of the dresses with envy. I was sure I would see her in some of them before the school started again.

The after party was filled with people. At some points I thought I saw some celebrities. I stayed with Jake as Rose went and mingled. I sometimes envy her ability to socialize. I could converse quite well when people came to me, but I would not be the one to seek people out. I pointed some ladies out to Jacob, but he refused to leave my side. Finally, when I couldn't take it anymore, I went to the ladies' room to take off my shoes as they were killing me. I hated wearing heels; luckily, I didn't fall at all that night.

I massaged my feet a bit and slipped my shoes back on. Rose had better take me to a masseuse tomorrow. On my way back to my seat, a drunken man stopped me. His breath assaulted me before any words came out of his mouth and I felt like puking.

"Excuse me," I said, trying to slip past him.

"Come on, baby. Stay." Oh my god, his breath. _Do I have a mint I can throw in his mouth? _

_You're in a crisis, Bella. Focus!_

The man made an attempt to grab me, but that caused me to shriek and blindly punch him in the face. Having a cop for a father really helped when you were caught in a situation like this.

"Get away from me!" I shouted, trying to throw a few good punches. But my attack was feeble since he was far too drunk to actually feel anything I hit him with. Clearly, he didn't get the message and got more aggressive.

Then I remembered SING.

I jabbed him in his solar plexus, that region between his stomach and his chest. He staggered a bit. But that still didn't keep him down. I really needed to pack my punches. I braced myself for another shot but before I could, I heard my name being called.

"Bella!" Jacob came running to help me.

He stepped between me and the attacker and checked to see if I was okay.

"Hey, dude. Go find your own girl!" The drunken man tried to pull Jacob off of me.

"She's my girl," Jacob said and threw a punch with so much more force than mine that the drunken man sprawled onto the ground.

The commotion attracted the attention of the crowd, as well as the security and Rose. She quickly came to my side and hugged me. She made a quick examination of me, twisting me left and right. We took no time to leave the party while security took care of the drunken man.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry I wasn't there," Rose said as we got into a cab.

"I'm fine. He didn't do anything, Jake managed to get there in time. I gave him a few punches as well. No biggie."

They both sighed when I said that. More like a frustrated sigh than a relieved sigh.

Rose rushed me into our hotel room and shooed Jake to his room as soon as we arrived on our floor and locked the door.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you're in shock. Let me get you some sugar." She went to the fridge and took out a Pepsi before I could stop her. "Here."

"I'm fine, really. Nothing's wrong."

"You look confused. Have you eaten anything?"

"He said I was his girl," I said in a whisper.

"Of course he said you were his girl, that man was drunk! The state that man was in, even a cow in a skirt would have been his girl."

"Not him, Jake did." I told her the story that led up to those words.

Rose went on to tell me the speculation she had going on a few years back, that Jacob had feelings for me. I only scoffed at that. That couldn't be, he was a friend. Besides, I was marrying Edward. If what Rose said was true, me marrying Edward would devastate him. All the more reason to keep him from it.

Rose took me to a masseuse the next day as she promised. The trip was now officially Jacob's and he took us to probably the most boring place ever: A car show.

He had been a good sport following us to watch fireworks and a fashion show, so I guess I would be a good sport too for his sake. Rose loved the idea; she said that it would have been her second choice if she had been able to choose two places on the road trip. It made a lot of sense considering they were both mechanical engineering majors.

The three of us went our separate ways looking at the cars. It annoyed me that every time I stopped by a car, the car dealer would talk for so long about the car and I couldn't seem to stop him from talking. So of course, I politely nodded and moved onto the next car. When it happened for the fifth time, I stopped looking at cars. I just sat at the bench.

Rose then came to see me. "I want to show you something."

I followed her and saw something incredible.

"It looked so good, I couldn't believe it. It sounded good too. I want to swap!" I told Rose.

"She found it already?" Jacob asked as he made his way to us.

"I brought her to it. She was sitting at the bench. Cars are _not_ her game."

"But this one definitely is," I interrupted. It was my truck only better looking, shiny, and sounded so much better.

"Are you done? There's something I want you to see," Jacob said.

"I'm all done. Let's go."

He didn't have to show me what he wanted me to see as I saw it already. "This is what it will look like? This is awesome! Now I'm pressuring you to get it done quickly."

Jacob had been building a Volkswagen Rabbit. It had been almost a year since he started building it. We all were so busy with school, but the product was so cute. I wanted it done as quickly as possible.

Since Jacob's trip was very short, we decided to give him another choice. He chose the beach and off we went.

"I love the beach!" Rose exclaimed.

We took no time to strip to our bathing suits. Jacob's toned body grabbed the attention of many girls. Rose, well, she could grab the attention of the male species even in three layers of clothing, so of course she could attract men in a bathing suit.

Rose and I built a sandcastle, or tried to since we never really successfully built one. When we hit the water, all three of us were water wrestling. Rose and I jumped on Jacob, causing him to sink in the water. When he finally emerged from the water, he tried to catch us. Of course he caught me, I was a slow swimmer. He threw me into the water, while he did that, Rose threw a ball on his head and he turned to catch Rose.

When we were tired of the water, we played on the sand. We buried Jacob in it, so only his head could be seen and we dared him to move out of it. Surprisingly enough, he could. It was noon when I spotted the ice cream truck and I made my way there, leaving Jake and Rose. When I returned, Jacob had female company with him and Rose was sunbathing. I sat next to Rose and handed her an ice cream.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"I don't know, an admirer maybe. Why? Are you jealous, Swan?"

I felt relieved.

"No, I feel sorry. Look at him trying to get out of the conversation."

He did finally get out of the conversation when the girl's company – a few other girls – left.

"Sorry about that. Hey!" Jacob said.

"What?" I looked around and saw his ice cream already melted.

"You're too late, Black. Your loss. It was very delicious too," Rosalie said from behind her magazine.

"It's just an ice cream. I can go buy another one. Come, Bella."

"I'm too tired, Jake. I really want to sleep right now."

"Fine. I still want an ice cream before we go back to California."

"Who's driving?" I asked, because I really didn't want to drive.

"We'll rock-paper-scissors later. Let's take a nap and have some lunch after, then we'll buy this big guy his ice cream and go back to Cali. Sound good?" Rose suggested.

"Agreed," Jake and I said in unison.

.

The results for our finals came out and Rose and I got an excellent score, an A for the overall CGPA. Jacob, too, got an impressive score, so the three of us went out. School was starting next week, and I had to be thrifty next semester since I used a lot of money on the trip.

_Bella,_

_Can I see you this Sunday?_

_-Edward_

I totally forgot about him. Other than the birthday wish, I didn't really contact him at all. Some wife I would be. I typed an okay and sent it.

_I'll wait for you at the usual place. Have a great summer._

_-Edward_

Wife. In six months, I was gonna be one. God, help me.

* * *

I am going back to uni later tonight. So, updates may not come as quick as this one.

I promised you once every two weeks, I will try my very best to keep that promise. Your follows and favorites really get me going.

Thank you for reading.

Reviews are appreciated.


	9. His Ring

Hi everyone.

Here is the next chapter.

A/N at the bottom.

Beta'd by the wonderful Cal and Kenya. Thank you, guys!

* * *

**His Ring**

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I walked into Jasper's office without bothering to knock. He wouldn't get angry, he did the same thing.

"I'm proposing," I said as I paced in front of him.

"That's great. How are you going to do that?" He didn't even look up from his laptop.

"That, my friend, is where you come in. I have no idea how." I stopped pacing and put both my hands on his table, still standing up.

He finally looked up at me, shutting his laptop. "You'd be dead without me, Edward. Admit it, I'm your lifesaver... but I'm afraid this is my kryptonite. I can't really help you with this since I don't really know enough about this whole proposing thing." Upon seeing my face fall, he added, "But no matter, we'll figure it out. Do you have a ring?"

"Yes." I took a seat in front of him.

"Alright, I guess next is the setting. Where do you want to propose?"

"That's where you have to help me. I really don't know. It's not like she's my long-time girlfriend. I know nothing about her."

_Except that she hates money._

"I think we have to talk to Rosalie about this. She knows Bella really well," Jasper suggested.

"Yeah, I think you're right."

But I couldn't call Rosalie because I didn't have her contact details. So that day before I was supposed to meet Bella, I waited outside their house. I shouldn't have texted her before I had any plans, but my hands were itching on the keypad.

I saw Bella walking to her piece of metal. I quickly ducked and waited for her to drive away. When she disappeared from sight, I got out of the car and knocked on the door. It took a few knocks and groans coming from the inside of the house before the door opened. I was greeted by a very grumpy Rosalie, who clearly was woken up by my knocks on the door.

"What?" My sudden appearance apparently didn't deter her cranky mood.

"I need your help." Her response was only a long yawn and some stretching.

"Come on in. It better be good to wake me up very early on a Saturday morning," she said as she went inside.

She gestured for me to sit down and made her way to the kitchen. I observed the room I sat in and decided Bella and Rosalie kept a very lovely house. It was a single storey house with three bedrooms. It wasn't that big, but it was kept very clean and that was a plus for small houses.

She came out a few moments later with two glasses of milk. It was early in the morning, so I guess milk made sense. It had been a long time since I had any milk; it made me want to have a of bowl cereal right there.

"When will Bella get home?" She couldn't know I came here or the surprise would be ruined.

"She's buying groceries. It will take her about an hour." Cue sigh of relief.

"Great. I need your help, Rosalie. I'm thinking of proposing to her, but I don't really know how. You're a girl and you're her best friend. Your help will seriously come in handy."

_Please agree._

"Oh my god! Really? That's so great! I was so sure everything would be a fake. Good thinking on not faking this one." Well that definitely deterred her mood. Her eyes lit up and she was more animated.

"It's just that… this is her first marriage, I don't want everything to be phony. She told me about putting on the rings and shout to your family about being engaged. At least with your proposing, she may have something real out of this," she explained .

The fact that she said "her first marriage" made me feel guilty that I had to involve her into this but I swallowed that. "My mom and sister really wanted me to propose, so I think it's better to do it in front of them."

"You know what? You wait here, I'll go get ready. It's not safe talking about this here."

She finished her milk in one quick gulp and proceeded to rush upstairs. I slowly sipped on my milk as I waited half an hour for Rosalie to get ready. Once she got down, she took both our empty glasses and washed it. Well, she put it in the dishwasher.

"Getting rid of the evidence," she explained. I just nodded. "Let's go. We'll take separate cars and go to a place Bella won't pass by on her way home," she said while writing a note to Bella.

The place she meant was quite far from their house. Once we arrived, we placed our orders and got down to business immediately.

"I'm sure you already have a ring. So how can I be of your help?" _How can she be sure?_

"Well, where should I propose? I don't know her favourite place or anything."

"With Bella," Rosalie explained, "you don't need anything ostentatious or a show. She really just cares about meaning and the intentions behind an action. Anywhere of your choice would be fine. Since you want to have it done in front of your family, how about in a park or a restaurant? She likes to cook and she loves open air. We came from a place that rained almost 365 days a year. So I'm guessing, since it's still summer, you should do it in a park."

"The park it is," I agreed.

"What kind of ring did you get her? Is it expensive or fancy looking?" she asked suddenly. It didn't sound like she was being invasive, but more like anxious.

"I didn't buy the ring, it's a hand-me-down. But if I were to buy it, it would be expensive... and fancy-looking."

"Find a park that has a lot of people so she can't throw a tantrum. Not in public place at least," she decided.

"But I didn't spend a dime on it," I complained.

"Just trust me on this," she pressed. Looking back, listening to her was the right thing, because Bella did throw a fit. A very little one, thankfully.

"My family will be there, and I know Bella's parents are no longer here." Rosalie's face looked sullen at this. "So what would you suggest?"

"I think that Bella wouldn't want a lot of people in on this, so your family alone and I would suffice. Only immediate family, not your cousins or uncles and aunts."

I thought that was a little weird, but Rosalie could be intimidating if she wanted to be and I said I would trust her. Plus, I didn't want Bella to throw a tantrum.

"Do you want her in a dress or her normal jeans and shirt?" She kept firing question after question. Jasper was right about consulting Rosalie on this. She was so much help.

"I think a dress, but it's in the open and it's hot, so choose wisely. I don't want those red carpet dresses. They're too over the top. Are there such thing as summer dresses?"

She laughed at that. "Got it. When?"

"Second Saturday of August. About two weeks before school reopens."

"No problem."

"Does Bella have any favourite foods? Food that she hasn't had in a long time?"

"There is a lot of food that she hasn't had. She's been saving money, skipping meals. Are we talking about a three course meal or just dessert?" she said. And the guilt I felt earlier seemed to die down a little as I thought that she needed me as much as I need her.

"I'm guessing a three course meal."

"Are we changing the venue to a restaurant?" she asked, a little confused.

"No. We're still going to do it in the park."

"Okay. Then, um, let's see... she likes chocolate soufflé..." she continued listing down the food that Bella really liked and hadn't had in a long time, because even Rosalie couldn't spend money on her. She would throw a fit.

The discussion went on for about an hour more. We left after we finished our food. It had barely passed noon when I started to become more bored by the minute, so I took Em and Jasper to see the house I purchased. They liked it. Emmett was more than just liking it, he booked a room and said that it would be his every time he came over – which I thought would be a lot – because it had the nicest view; a house with a middle aged couple with two hot daughters. I just wished he wouldn't make a move on those girls; they looked underaged.

We toured the house and Jasper and Emmett commented on everything they saw; they were mostly positive, but they both agreed that the house was in dire need of a new coat of paint. Jasper brought up the proposal issue, so the three of us headed off to search for the best park in Berkeley.

That alone took us three hours, but we did find a great park. It made me realize that we didn't really know our city and we had been stuck in the office for too long. There was so much to see, but our business was just so new and because there was so much work to do, it consumed all of our time. When everything settled down, we could have our rest. I rewarded Emmett's and Jasper's hard work with a dinner.

"I can't believe you're gonna do this," Emmett said as the waiter walked away.

"Why?"I grabbed a plate on the conveyor belt.

"Once you do it, you're not a free man anymore. You'll be engaged. I can't really see myself being married right now, let alone engaged."

"You know why I'm doing it, em. I have to get Mom off my ass."

"I know, dude. I'm just looking out for you. Contract or not, this thing is still real you know? Only five people know about the real thing. It's a very small percentage."

"Nah, I'm doing it," I said to let them think I was fine. But what Emmett said really struck a chord in me. I had gone to great lengths trying to get Mom off my ass about future, family and settling down; of course I was going to do it. I kept telling myself that.

"Leave him alone, Em. We will help him if the going gets tough. Besides, Bella is a good girl. She won't be a problem." Jasper said.

"You know, Emmett, Facebook-wise I'm currently 'in a relationship'. You both are single," I said to lighten the situation.

"You're right. Fine, just take a good care of yourself. Marriage is tough. It can make skinny people go fat," Emmett said.

"That honestly doesn't make sense," Jasper said, laughing.

"You'll see."

.

I sat at our usual bench, waiting for Bella. Then I felt two hands push my shoulders, almost shoving me off my seat and scaring the hell out of me. After that I heard Bella laugh.

"That wasn't funny!" I vented. I was very angry, but knowing it was Bella and hearing her tinkling laugh, my anger dissipated.

"It was. I wish I could have seen your face, but seeing you jump almost a foot in the air was enough." And she laughed again. Her laugh was addictive and I joined in.

"Did you have a great summer?" I asked as soon as our laughter died.

"Yes. We went to the beach, a fashion show, a car show and watched fireworks on the Fourth of July," Bella recalled her road trip.

"That _is _great. I only got two weeks off and that was spent with the two stooges. The rest of the summer, I was stuck in the office." I didn't tell her about the house, of course. That was a surprise and I didn't want her to know too early.

"Those are the perks of being a student. You get a lot of days off. You didn't call me here just to ask me about my summer, did you? That could've been done over the phone." She raised her eyebrows.

_Is that permission to call her for no reason? _

"No, I wanted to give you this as well." I handed her a piece of paper.

"'Make no plans on the 13th?'" I left as she was reading it aloud. Then I heard her shout.

"You can't tell me this over the phone? Or text me? Or mail it? You have to call me here just to give me this?!" Luckily, there wasn't anyone in sight.

I just laughed all the way to my car. As I drove away, she was still on the bench – either trying to find the reason behind the note or fuming over it. I honked twice and she turned to glower at me. That only made me laugh harder.

.

The next two weeks passed by the way they always did. But the feelings I felt in those two weeks weren't: nervous, scared, happy, and many other mixed feelings. Changing your status wasn't as easy as changing your car. Everything was planned perfectly; Rosalie would bring Bella to the park. Mom and Dad took a day off to witness this day. All I was doing now was praying real hard that Bella would do as Rosalie said. Everything was set. Rosalie texted me. _She has my number?_

_We're here. You owe me big time, Edward!_

_~R_

Bella must have given her a hard time when getting ready; this couldn't be good for my proposal if Bella was already in a sour mood. About 30 minutes later, Bella finally found me sitting on a bench. I quickly got up and escorted her to our seat. On my signal, the waiter brought our first meal. I saw Bella eyeing me, the waiter, and the tray of food with narrowed eyes. When the food was served in front of her, she gulped visibly.

"How did you... where...who told you?" She started to look around but seemed to find no one and looked back to me.

"Never mind that. Let's eat, shall we?" She looked at her food with uncertainty. "Come on, Bella. I didn't poison it or anything. There are a lot of witnesses here."

Slowly, she took a bite. Then she closed her eyes and moaned.

"This is so good." She didn't complain when the waiter brought the main course.

We made small talk during the meal and halfway through the main course, I gave a signal to Rosalie, which she understood as the cue to call my family in. When the main course was finished, I saw that my family had taken various spots in the park.

Mom and Dad were sitting on a bench behind the newspaper they had just purchased. Jasper and Alice were eating ice creams; Jasper wore a cap, while Alice had a big bouquet of flowers hiding her face. Emmett, well, he was a bit hard to hide. He paid a hotdog vendor to hide him by parking the trolley in front of him. Only his head was visible from my point of view.

We ate the dessert in silence. I was silently praying that this would go as planned. I studied the chocolate soufflé with great detail, not once looking up. When I heard her cough, I looked up.

"What is this?" she asked as she plucked the ring off the ice cream with her spoon.

Once she saw what it was in her hand, her eyes bulged and went wide. I stood up and took it from her. Her eyes followed the ring that was now in my hands. I went to her side of the table and knelt beside her.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." She put her hands on her mouth.

"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?" It took her a while to answer. For a second I was afraid that her answer would be no.

"I said fake engagement, Edward," she whispered loudly.

"There are a lot of people here, Bella." She looked around at the kids playing all over the park. When her head swept through where my family was seated, they ducked. That almost made me laugh. But the current circumstances forbade me from laughing.

She sighed dejectedly, "Yes."

I slid the ring onto her finger and it fit amazingly well. I let out the breath I had been holding and scooped her up into a hug, lifting her from the ground. For more than a year, the deal with Mom had been bugging me. Now, I was a free man! It was official now. The irony was not lost on me; getting engaged was equal to my freedom.

I heard Emmett first. His whoop was the loudest along with claps that resonated around the park. I put Bella down. Then cheers erupted around us, not only from my family, but the parents of children in the park as well. Bella blushed and looked away from me. My family then enveloped us in their hugs. One by one, they congratulated us and Mom had tears in her eyes.

Alice then examined Bella's hand. Mom and Rosalie followed suit.

"This is lovely, Edward. Where did you get it?" Alice asked.

"I took your advice: Tiffany and Co." Bella looked at me with eyes wide. She must have recognised the name even if she didn't really look like the kind to wear jewellery. Now that I noticed, no necklace, no rings, or bracelet, not even a pierced ear.

I was actually scared to be left alone with Bella now.

"I think we should leave the two lovebirds alone. Bella, would you come to dinner tomorrow? Rosalie, you're invited too," Mom said to the both of them.

"Sure, Esme. I'd be delighted to," Rosalie answered and Bella was still eyeing me. But not glaring, although I was very certain once my family left, she would turn on her glower.

I looked at Jasper, pleading with my eyes to not leave me alone with her. But he left anyway; I thought he had a mischievous look. He liked this.

We walked to my car and stood in front of it, away from the eyes of the onlookers.

"Let me explain. Alice and Mom were really excited about this whole thing, and I thought it would be a great to include them in this too."

"Without consulting me? I mean, I have a say in this, too, don't I?" she said, careful not to raise her voice.

"I'm sorry but, I did say, the groom has to decide and this was what I decided. Besides, your reaction has to be real."

"I understand, but we're giving them the wrong idea. You're making us look like the happiest couple in the whole world, when the truth is, this is all staged. We'll break their hearts more when the one year mark ends because they had such high hopes for us. Put it this way, let's say, a) you studied overseas and came back with a wife, or b) you married someone that they knew, that they approved of, and when you guys get a divorce, which is harder for them to accept, option a or b?"

"Never mind all that. We'll fight in front of them when the year almost ends. Then they will see that we're falling apart."

"Why is everything so easy to you? Do you really like lying to your mother? We're pretending to be happy, pretending to fight." She had her hands raised in her anger. That movement caused her to see the ring. "And not to mention the ring. Tiffany, Edward? Do you ever listen to me? From the size of it, I'm sure you didn't browse the three digit section. You went straight to the thousand dollars section." She was fuming.

"I can't take it." She made a move to remove the ring but my hands stopped her and that electricity struck again.

"Yes, you can. It's not like there is any dent in my wallet or anything."

I gave her an ultimatum. "There were two choices in the ring I was gonna use to propose to you. One will cost me nothing, the other is this."

Bella had her mouth opened in attempt to answer.

"The one that cost me nothing was my mother's. _My biological mother_. Dad gave it to her. It symbolizes first love and youth." I repeated Dad's words with no feelings.

She had her mouth open again, but closed it when she realized she had nothing to say.

I changed my mind at the last minute to use a new ring instead of _hers_ because as Carlisle said, 'Take it for what it meant, what it symbolizes. Not _who_ it was meant for.' What the ring symbolized, did not symbolize Bella and myself. We were not lovers.

"Fine. I guess this one is a better choice than the other. But I am _so_ returning it to you when it's over," she relented. But the concern in her eyes never left. "When I signed up for this, you said everything was a sham and I need not to worry. I'm starting to worry, Edward. I feel like we've gone too far. We're giving them too much hope and I'm afraid someday they'll be crushed by it.

"I don't want to hurt them. They're really nice people who want the best for their son. But what are we giving them back? Lies and more lies. Karma will bite us back, Edward," she said with a small voice. Her kind heart was something I never found in the women Mom threw my way and found myself intrigued by her.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Bella. I will take care of everything. When the marriage is over, they'll put the blame on me. I'll make sure you're out of harm's way. They like you; actually, I don't think they will blame any of us. Like you said, it will be an amicable split." She still had worry in her eyes and I wanted so badly to make it go away. I hugged her. She was a bit shocked but she didn't reject the advance.

"Everything will be all right. I told you I got your back. If it's too much for you, tell me. I'll help you. Maybe I'll make sure you see them less so you don't have to lie too much. Or we'll move halfway across the country." That made her laugh and she pulled away.

"All right, and I have to take a flight just to get to my classes."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I can afford it." She glowered at me. "I'm kidding."

"Thanks for the offer. And thanks for listening. I was just getting stuff off my chest. It had been a weird and confusing two weeks with Rose and having lunch with you and a giant diamond ring certainly doesn't help."

"Yeah, I know." I showed her the text Rosalie sent me.

That made her laugh again. I was starting to like the sound of her laugh.

"Come on." She made her way to the passenger side of my car. "I really need to get out of these shoes."

* * *

My best friend is getting married tomorrow, so I was busy. Let's hope that I will have more free time. and I'm sorry for the delay in updating.

I don't know if you all notice but i don't do overlapping chapters, so do you want Bella's POV for the proposal or just skip to the dinner?

and I forgot to ask you in the last chapter, but did you get the reference I made about the Winchesters?

One more thing, do you want me to put some sort of a recap at the beginning of every chapter? Just in case you forgot what last chapter was all about?

Happy Holidays everyone.


	10. Her Confusion

Sorry for the late update.

Thanks to my betas **Kenya** and **Cal**, who has helped A LOT.

and also **Alycesaundra Mathews** and **iluvtwilight60** for the reviews. and sorry for not listening to you guys.

* * *

**Her Confusion**

* * *

Rose had been acting very strange since the day I got back from my grocery shopping and found a note saying that she went out. The fact that there was a note waiting for me was the bit that was unusual. It was a very rare occurrence for Rose to wake up so early in the morning – weekend morning or days that she had no morning classes.

I put away all the groceries and when she got home, she had a huge smile on her face, so I thought maybe she went on a date. I saw her looking for dresses online and she was very serious at it too, taking notes for days at a time. I bet she was looking for dresses from the show. She also went out a lot now. Having a boyfriend sure was keeping her busy. At least that was what I thought since Rose was being quite secretive.

After he asked me about my summer, in which I told him about everything except for the fact that Jacob was with us and the incident at the fashion show, Edward gave me a note when I met with him the next day. That angered me a little since he could have texted me, or emailed, or called, or left the note in the mailbox. Any other means was fine by me. I could have been sleeping at this hour.

He drove off with a smile, honked twice and laughed harder at the face I made at him. When I showed the card to Rose, she, too, was being weird by showing too much enthusiasm that it was borderline acting. Her enthusiasm ended at that and she didn't want to venture the topic of the card too much like she always did when we had a mystery in our hand. Like the mystery of the missing ice cream (Jake ate it), or the mystery of the flowers (some geek sent it to her), and lots more. A bunch of Holmes we were. My mind was reeling but I couldn't put anything together and left it at that.

About a week after her intense dress hunting stopped, a parcel arrived while I was cooking. I knew this because they had this special style of honking. I guessed that it was her dress.

I shouted for Rose to go get the door.

By the time we were eating dinner, I asked her whether it was her dress. She nodded but didn't elaborate.

"Why haven't you modeled it for me, yet?" I asked, because she always did and she would do it immediately after it arrived.

"It wasn't what I wanted. They sent the wrong dress," she said dismissively.

On August thirteenth, I followed what the note said and made no plans. I sat on the living room and watched _Supernatural _reruns. The Winchesters were seriously the bomb. Gun trotting, handsome dudes were a sure win.

Then Rose sat next to me on the couch. "Let's go out," she said.

"No, I'm busy," I replied.

"_Supernatural _again, Bella? You've watched this a hundred times. Let's go out. I'm bored," she started to whine.

I was not backing down; she had been going out alone these past few weeks, surely she could do it again. Besides I was under strict orders from my boss that I wasn't supposed to go out. Yes, I sometimes call Edward "boss" in my head, because he employed me to be his wife. That made him boss.

She let it go for a while. But only a while, because after that, she tried again, "How about the park?"

"You're not actually a green person, Rose." My eyes didn't leave the TV as I said this. But I turned to her as I said the next words. "What is up with you? You are very persistent today. Even when you know what the note Edward gave me said."

She didnt miss a beat when she replied, "Bella, think about it. _Make no plans on the thirteenth_. He didn't give you any follow up on the order. Why can't you make any plans? Is he taking you out? Is he just planning on driving you crazy with boredom at home? What? He isn't being very clear about the instructions. My guess is, he's trying to play you. Don't you think?"

Now that she mentioned it, it did made sense, albeit very little sense, her deductions. There was no text or call from Edward. But I wasn't gonna let it show.

"You have been out and about without me a lot these days, I'm sure you don't need me to go out with you today." Not that I was sulking or anything.

"Awwww, Bella. I wasn't out having fun, sweetie. I was working," she said with her hands on my arms, trying to coerce me into going out.

Boyfriend myth debunked? What would she need to be working on?

She was being very persuasive and it was very much working, one wrong mistake on my part and she would win. There were very little times that I could say no to Rose and it was the same with her. Sometimes she couldn't say no to me.

"Why did you have to take orders from him?" She tried again.

"Since I signed the papers. Since he is practically my employer."

"He starts paying you next year. But you are already working now. Lying to his family, and now, he's bossing you around."

"I'm working overtime."

"There's no use of you working overtime since you won't let him pay you more than he needs to."

"I'm paying him back for his car. Do you remember it, Rose? Me wrecking his car?" I said sarcastically and grinned smugly having one upped her.

Her eyes never showed relent. Now that she knew any argument regarding Edward wouldn't win her any points, she went for the kill.

"Are you really gonna leave me alone, Bella?" she said with an almost baby like voice.

I keep my eyes steeled to the TV. I knew the face she was making. That face was the reason I couldn't say no to her and her to me. That face was only between the two of us. We never did it when there were people around. Rose, who was known to have a heart of steel, if known to be making those faces, will lose some of the reputation she built. Me? It would just seem ridiculous for people to see me doing it. But hey, it worked on Rose. Who am I to judge?

"Bella…" she whined again.

Be strong, Bella. You can do this. "No, Rose. I'm sorry."

Then I heard a sniffle and made a mistake of looking at her. Her bottom lip jutted out, she was looking down at her lap and, having let go of me and wringing her hands together.

I surrender! "Okay, we'll go out!"

She dropped the act immediately and hugged me tightly. "Yeah!"

I hugged her back. "But we wait until the season finale."

I went up for a shower and found Rose on my bed when I was done.

"Surprise!" she shouted waving her hand toward the bed where a dress was laying.

"Why would I need this to go to a park? What is going on, Rose? You know I don't like surprises." Something was going on and I wasn't in on it. And it was frustrating me.

"Before you go all psycho on me, this is from my father's company. I got it from the clothing department. They only used it once for a photo shoot. It was already washed and it is good as new."

"Don't lie to me, Rose. I saw you going through all those online stores." Then I noticed she, too, was dressed quite nicely. Too nice for an evening in the park.

"I did, but none of them fit the occasion. I asked my dad if I could have one from his place. He said yes, I looked at the catalogs, and picked this one."

This was one of the times that I hated her father's company. She found the loophole in my rule. I couldn't even complain to Mr. H, either. Her father owned an advertising company, which was the reason for the free tickets and clothing.

I looked her in the eye and she didn't break her gaze at all. She was telling the truth.

"Fine, I trust you. But what occasion are you talking about?"

But she had already left the room.

When I finished putting on the dress, she insisted on dolling me up. For what exactly, I didn't know. I really didn't want to sound whiney so I held my tongue on complaining.

She drove to a park I had never set foot on. And honestly I wondered why. The park was beautiful and it was only about a mile from my place.

"This place is beautiful. Why haven't we been here before?" I saw Rose trying to run, like she was trying to sneak away from me. "Wait, Rose. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the ladies' room. I need to go really badly. You go on ahead." There was a toilet, too. Seriously, why hadn't I been here before?

_This park is cool. _I really needed to go out more. _Go on where ahead?_

"Where exactly is ahead?" Rose wasn't next to me anymore. Here I was, in a park I had never been to and Rose had left me. _What the hell am I supposed to do? _I proceeded to sit on a bench. I looked around, watching people around me. Then, on the tree next to me, I spotted an arrow sign. It looked new.

_Would it be childish to want to follow it?_ I asked myself. _Nah! It would be like old times, like a treasure hunt._

I followed the direction the arrow pointed at, and found myself walking around the park from tree to tree. I did get lost a few times, by that I meant I got the wrong tree. At the end of the 'hunt', I found Edward looking lovely in casual clothing sitting on a bench so far away from where I started my 'hunt'.

After a little fit I threw in his way, we started our lunch. When dessert came, I saw him get a little nervous. On my third scoop, there was a gleaming in the ice cream. I took it out, and my eyes bulged. Edward then, took it from my hands and lowered himself to one knee.

This wasn't happening. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," _Why is he doing this? I am so not prepared for this._

"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?" At least he knew my full name. How did he know my full name anyway? Did he stalk…?

My inner ramblings stopped when I saw the ring. I couldn't take this ring, it was way too much.

"I said fake engagement, Edward!" I whispered injecting as much anger as I possibly could into those five words.

"There are a lot of people here, Bella." Good thing he reminded me because what I had in my mind in result to this ambush proposal wasn't public appropriate.

Rose? She drove me here. That meant she knew already. All the weird things she did, the dress, the going out all the time was for this? I didn't know whether to be touched or angry at her for doing this. Since I definitely said I wanted a fake one. But all this was done for me.

There was really nothing I could say so, I said, "Yes."

He slid the ring on my finger and lifted me up in his hug. From around us, I heard people applauding. One particular whoop was quite familiar. That caused blood to rush to my cheeks. Being the center of attention really wasn't my forte. Edward let me down and I couldn't look at him.

That familiar voice belonged to Emmett, I then found myself being hugged by a lot of people.

Alice took my hand to examine the ring. "This is lovely, Edward. Where did you get it?"

"I took your advice, Tiffany and Co." Tiffany? Judging from the size, this isn't from the under $250 section. I looked angrily at him.

Esme then suggested for us to be left alone, which was frankly the best idea. She invited Rose and I to dinner tomorrow night and they took off.

Rose was all smiles as they made their way to their cars. We also made our way to Edward's car.

Before I could say anything, he started talking first, "Let me explain. Alice and Esme were really excited about this whole thing. And I thought it would be a great idea to include them in this, too."

"Without consulting me? I mean, I have a say in this too, don't I?"

"I'm sorry, but I did say, the groom has to decide and this was what I decided." Oh yeah, he did.

"I understand, but we are giving them the wrong idea. You are making us look like the happiest couple in the whole world. When the truth is, this was all staged. We will break their hearts even more when the one year mark ends because they had such high hopes for us. Put it this way, let's say, a) you studied overseas and came back with a wife, or b) you married someone that they knew, that they approved of, when you guys got a divorce, which is harder for them to accept option a or b?"

"Never mind all that. We'll fight in front of them when the one year mark almost ends. Then they will see that we are falling apart."

"Do you really like lying to your mother? We are pretending to be happy, pretending to fight. And not to mention the ring. Tiffany, Edward? Do you ever listen to me? From the size of it, I'm sure you didn't browse the three digit section. You went straight to the thousand dollars section." If I didn't want to sound whiney then, I definitely sound whiney now.

"I can't take it." I started to pull off the ring, but his hands beat me to it. Right then, the jolt was felt again when our hands touched.

"Yes, you can. It's not like there is any dent in my wallet or anything."

When he explained himself, I couldn't help but feel relieved that it wasn't the family heirloom that he'd chosen.

"When I signed up for this, you said everything was a sham and I need not to worry. I'm starting to worry, Edward. I feel like we've gone too far. We're giving them too much hope and someday, they will be crushed by it.

"I don't want to hurt them. They are really nice people who wanted the best for their son. But what are we giving them back? Lies and more lies. Karma will bite us back, Edward."

"You don't have to worry about anything, Bella. I will take care of everything. When everything is over, they will put the blame on me. I will make sure you are out of harm's way. They like you; actually, I don't think they will blame either of us. Like you said, it will be an amicable split." He still remembered that. That was sweet, but I was still concerned. This all could end very badly. He hugged me then. I stiffened, shocked, but accepted the embrace because I really needed it.

"Everything will be all right. I told you, I have your back. If it's too much for you, tell me. I'll help you. Maybe I'll make sure you see them less so you don't have to lie too much. Or, we'll move halfway across the country." I laughed at that. Of course he would think that since he was bloody rich. That was never going to happen, but I humored him anyway.

"All right, and I have to take a flight just to get to my classes."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Maybe we could join the mile high club." That earned him a glare. "I'm kidding."

"Thanks for the offer. And thanks for listening. I was just getting stuff off my chest. It had been a weird and confusing two weeks with Rose, and having lunch with you and a giant diamond ring certainly doesn't help."

"Yeah, I know." I read the text Rose sent him.

"Come on. I really need to get out of these shoes."

He started his engine. "Just so you know, I won't be wearing this all the time. Firstly, I will lose it and have to pay for it. Secondly, it's kinda weird to wear it around campus, it's too flashy. But don't worry; I will wear it around your parents to make them happy."

"I kinda figured that one out. You are quite clumsy. I don't think anyone I have ever met has rivalled you in that area."

"Keep talking and I won't wear it at all." He raised his hands in mock horror. "Keep your hands on the wheel, Cullen. Seriously, I think I'm endangering my life by taking a ride with you."

He looked seriously offended by my remark, but I didn't care.

.

We were getting ready to go to the dinner at the Cullen's, Rose and I.

"Are you nervous about meeting the parents, Bella?"

"I _have_ met the parents, Rose." I snorted. But I _was_ nervous, the Cullens and I were warming up on each other, but the nerve just wouldn't go away. Edward said he had my back, and I trusted him.

We arrived at the Cullens' with about half an hour to spare; Rose drove really fast. I, being the scared girl, afraid of ruining her friend's car and the worrying about meeting the family, drove like a granny when I went to their house last time. No offense to the grannies.

I helped Edward set the table. He sensed my worry and told me some silly story to keep my mind off of it and added a wink at the end. The silly story kinda worked; it got me laughing. That was also when the rest of them decided to come in the dining room.

Everyone bantered throughout the meal. They were entering the topic of cars which got Rose involved and that left Alice and I on the sidelines. Halfway through, Esme interjected with, "Enough talking about cars, guys. Let's talk about the important issue here, Bella and Edward."

The moment I'd been dreading had arrived. Edward gave my hand a squeeze.

Alice, who was relatively quiet during the car banter, suddenly burst with questions and suggestions regarding the wedding. I looked at Edward, perplexed. Rose looked my way in amazement.

"All right, Alice seems to have lots of ideas. How about we postpone the conversation till after dinner?" Carlisle suggested.

Later after dinner, Esme pulled me aside. "I hope you don't mind us taking over the wedding planning. I know it's supposed to be the bride's side that plans, but since, you know," she implied of my parents' _death_. "We would really like to do it."

"Sure you can. I mean, I'm really busy and all. Once the summer's over and school starts, I won't have time to do it and I would really love it if you could plan the whole thing and I would be really glad to help out. Better get most of it done when I have the time. Rose and I, both. Thank you, Esme. That's really nice of you." I gave her a hug.

.

Again, Alice bombarded us with her thoughts.

"Take it slow, Alice. We're gonna be here for a long time," Edward chastised her.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited. Edward is the first to marry. So it's a new thing to us. Firstly, when?"

Esme seemed eager, but she knew how to hide it and let Alice be the spokesperson. It was clear in her eyes that she was just as excited as Alice.

Luckily, Edward and I talked about this in the car after the proposal.

"We haven't chosen a specific date, but it's sometime after the New Year. Maybe in the second week of January." I looked at Edward for confirmation. He just nodded.

She wrote it down and moved to the next aspect. "Where?"

"We don't know yet. We'll get back to you on that one."

Alice really left nothing behind. From dresses, guests, food, theme, flowers, and caterers. Everything was asked, but not everything was answered as a lot of bases weren't covered in our conversation in the car. Blame Edward for that.

It was almost midnight when Rose and I excused ourselves. Esme was trying to make us stay the night as it was late. My mind winced in horror at the thought. I gently refused, saying the cat wasn't fed at home and she let us go. She was a cat lover. Rose and I hugged everyone goodbye.

Like the last time I was here, Edward walked me to the car. Rose went inside and started the engine.

"You really should do some research about weddings. There were lots of things we didn't know," I said to him.

"Why me? You're the bride. The custom in weddings are: the bride plans, while the groom provides the money and shows up at the altar."

"Why you? It was _your_ idea to get married. So _you_ have to do most of the work and keep _my_ workload light." I poked at his chest every time I said 'you'. I realised that I might have gone too far, retracted my hand, afraid that he would get mad.

Instead, he just rubbed his chest and laughed. "You're right. It's bad enough that I forced your hand in marriage. I should keep your workload light. How about I hire a wedding planner and let her do everything and all we need to do is show up?"

He knew I hated him spending money unnecessarily and he made that suggestion just I would relent and do the work myself. "You know Alice and your mom wanted to do the wedding themselves."

"I know. A wedding planner will ease their work."

If I did the job myself, I'd be letting him win. If he was to do the job, he'd hire the wedding planner. Two can play the game, Cullen.

"Fine, you win. I'll do the research." Then I improvised. Better lying skills really helped this time. "But do you know when I went online yesterday there was an article about men wearing pink. It represents health. What do you say to a pink tux? You will look like that blogger. Hilton something." As soon as I finished saying that, I ran that small space to Rose's car and entered.

"Go, Rose. Go!" I shouted as I saw he was jogging to the car. He got there before we made our escape because Rose was on the phone.

"You wouldn't," Edward said at the window, mirth in his eyes. He played along even knowing there wasn't a chance I'll let him wear pink to the wedding. Dang retractable roof. I knew we should have raised it.

"I don't know Edward, pink matches better with white than black does. Besides, it represents health, Edward. Black represents gloom. You don't want a gloomy wedding." Rose chuckled from beside me.

"Gloomy is sad, Edward," Rose chimed in.

"Okay. No wedding planner. I'll try to help," he relented.

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go. It's midnight, what would the neighbours say?"

He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. Before I could make sense of what he had in mind, or to defend myself he gave me a quick peck on my cheek. He turned right away and bolted to the door.

"That's an assault, Cullen!" I wiped my cheek harshly as I shouted out the window.

Rose drove away then. "Isn't he sweet?"

"Shut up, Rose."

* * *

Are you pissed at Rose?

This is probably late, but what made you start to read the story? Was it the summary? or something else?

Reviews are appreciated


	11. His Preparation

Ah, I'm late again. Sorry, doesn't seem to cut it. But I am still very sorry.

This is unbeta'd.

Thanks to cullenmeadow, romanceaholic, iluvtwilight60, vampdreams.

* * *

_**Previously on AY+**_

"Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?" At least he knew my full name. How did he know my full name anyway? Did he stalk…?

My inner ramblings stopped when I saw the ring. I couldn't take this ring, it was way too much.

.

I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. I could hear Alice squealing all the way from where I was standing. Bella looked flushed but I couldn't be sure as it was dark.

.

_Happy belated birthday!_

_P/s: I thought if I wished too early it wouldn't be a happy belated. So I wished at the end of the month._

_~Bella_

_._

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**His Preparations**

* * *

I pecked her on the cheek, again, and I liked it. The look on her face after that was priceless. Whatever ire came from her, I didn't care because I'd do it again if I had the chance. I might have said it before and I'd say it again, making her mad would be (or had already been) my hobby.

Why? Because, I just couldn't make Emmett get mad, he was just, I had no idea, kinda immune to getting mad. The only mad he ever got was crazy mad. Jasper, he was just so calm and serene about everything. Alice, I didn't really want to get on her bad side. When she got mad she would scream and she had some lungs that girl did. You wouldn't want to be near her when she screamed.

Back inside, Alice was still hyper from excitement. Mom was beaming with pride. The guys, they looked happy. I really was tired. This whole thing sounded really easy when planning it. But getting it done was hard.

"All right guys, I'm gonna call it a night." Alice was about to complain. "There's still tomorrow, Alice."

"Tomorrow's Monday. You have to work," she whined, tugging on my sleeve.

"I can skip a day. These two won't mind." I pointed to Jazz and Emmett.

"Did you think you could skip just because you have a higher pay check?"

"Are you kidding me, Em?"

"Yeah, I am. Come on, Jazz. We got work tomorrow. Let lover boy skip." He left with Jazz as I walked up the stairs.

Sometimes it was easy to forget we were faking, acting in front of people. Because Bella somehow made it easy, but when she was out of the picture I felt all the tiredness, exhaustion catching up to me.

I was waiting for the sun to rise and breakfast to be served. (Wasn't really looking forward to the latter) Alice would claim my promise from last night and I was a bit scared of that.

Wedding stuff. _What the hell do I know about that?_ Bella was supposed to do those things; the planning and all that. I should only provide my man power and made sure I had my handsome self on the altar. That was all I could think of anyway.

_What else does a groom do anyway?_

"Edward, breakfast!" Mom shouted from the kitchen.

I came down to only Mom and Dad on the table. Weird. I really thought Alice would definitely be here.

"Where's Alice?" I asked as I pulled a chair out.

"She's coming. She has a lot on her hands."

I didn't know she meant it quite literally until I saw Alice coming down the stairs with about five folders in her hands.

"What are these for?" I asked as I ran to help her. She let me take three of the folders and waved me off.

"I'm hungry let's eat first." I heard her stomach rumble. "It's asking for food, come on," she said as she rubbed her stomach.

"These are for Bella and that one is for you." She motioned to all the folders in front of us.

"Why did she get so much?" Maybe I should be grateful about that.

She shook her head. "Dear brother, you have so much to learn. One is for the dress, the venue and music, the caterer, also the theme. Would you like some of them?"

I shook my head no vigorously. Well goodie. Looks like I wasn't gonna be bombarded anyway.

_Wrong!_

Alice used the whole morning, asking wedding related questions and some weird questions to lift my mood when she saw I was exasperated. She had been planning my wedding since she knew about the deal Mom made with me a year ago. And she's been cutting pictures off of magazines making these folders in front of me. She even had a paper work done on the budget. The total, well it was a lot. But I approved it anyway because the Cullens always did their event in style.

She could be a really successful wedding planner one day but I respected her choice of becoming a fashion designer instead.

"Come on, Edward choose one."

"They all look the same to me."

"No they're not. This one is…" she went on and on while I try my hardest to listen.

"I chose that one." I pointed to whatever page was turned.

The discussion ended when she had to go to class at noon and I was left alone finally.

I was engaged. It wasn't that different - the status change. I felt the same, nothing had changed. People were making a big deal out of the whole getting engaged, married thing. But Alice showed me just how wrong that statement was. When she had classes she would make sure Mom substituted her. I was brought to a tailor to get my measurements and I think he poked me on purpose. I didn't know if he had some kind of vendetta against me but I also think I'd been spreading my hand _way_ too long.

"I understand you have a waiting list and all, but I was wondering if you can prioritize my son's tux first. We will pay extra of course." Mom persuaded him.

"Mom, is that really necessary? We can always find other tailors. We're in L.A mom. I'm sure there are a lot of other places we can go to."

"No, he's the best. Have you seen his work? His craftsmanship is the best I've ever seen and I _have _seen a lot."

"But..." I started saying.

"No matter, Mrs. Cullen. I will take care of your son's suit. When will you need it done?"

"Three months top,"

He looked shocked but quickly composed himself and said, "Duly noted."

As we got out of the shop, Mom said, "You did great." _I did great?_

_What did I do?_ Seeing my confused expression she explained as we got into the car. "I counted on your gentlemanly behaviour and you always being a good son to make my little play a success.

_I'm so puzzled right now._ An I was sure it was shown on my face.

"When you saw me almost begging the guy what did you do?"

Now I understood. Seeing Mom had to plead like that, it pained me. So I really wanted her to give up and find other tailor. She was good. She was really good.

"Didn't know you had it in you, Mom. I'm amazed." She made a little bow.

Work wasn't as busy and I had quite a lot of free time. Alice and Mom took that chance to the fullest. Alice was checking her checklist when she found that she missed something out. The car. The ones Bella and I would ride separately to the church and also the limo with the 'just married' sign. Again, she dragged me across town to rent three limos. I was also shocked when she said three limos. I really thought a normal five seated car would do. When asked why couldn't it wait and why must it be limos, she said, so we could fit more people in and Bella had to see the car too and choose the 'just married' design.

After a long time of persuading, Alice finally relented and we rented only 2 limos. As bad as I felt for myself, Bella must have had worse. That made me feel grateful, and at the same time, I felt bad for her. Then I remembered the date. September 13th. Unlike Bella I knew the exact date of her birthday. And also unlike her I didn't send her a text; instead I gave her a call.

"Yeah?" she answered, breathless.

"Happy birthday."

"What? Today?" still breathless, she asked me.

_ Did I get the date wrong?_

"Let me check. Oh yeah. It is. I forgot the date. Thanks. Really love to chat but I'm running really late," I heard her footsteps quickened.

Something familiar about being really late and running and breathless. Sometimes, Bella reminds me so much of_ that girl_ who spilt her coffee on me many months ago. Despite my good intention on wishing her birthday on the day itself, it didn't go as planned. I didn't mind as her birthday was 24 hours. I could still contact her at any time today. I settled with that night when I'm quite sure she won't be busy. I didn't call her this time fear she would be asleep.

_Hey, u awake?_ _-E_

_Yeah. Cnt rly sleep._ _-B_

_Wedding things? anything I cn do 2 help?_ _-E_

Initially, I wouldn't do anything to help, but thinking she might have it worse than I did, I asked.

_U want 2 help me Edward? Im surprised u'd offer._ _-B_

_Fine then. I take it back._ _-E_

I was only trying to help.

_That's alright. I can handle it. sry abt this morning. I woke up l8 and had 2 rush._ _-B_

_I understand. I was there. Did u get there on time? -E_

_I did. Right after I walked in, the lecturer did. Thank god I was faster. He usually locks the door right after he goes in. hate that guy._ _-B_

The conversation carried on until Bella said she really wanted to go to bed or she'd be late again. The three months given to the tailor was over and I was on my way to the tailor to get my tux with both Alice and Mom. We were greeted with smile. He seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe happy to get rid of the Cullens.

"Ah, Mrs. Cullen. Right on time. I have your son's suit right here." He made a sweeping motion and we were ushered into a room.

Funny how he never really addressed me when I was actually the customer. He went off to a small room and came out with a garment bag. He hung it right next to the three-way mirror and zipped open the bag. It looked fine to me but Alice and Mom went closer for inspection.

They were talking in hushed voices. Alice had her index finger on her chin and sometimes nodded at whatever Mom was talking about, I made no move from where I was standing.

"Edward, come here." Mom beckoned with her hand. "Put it on."

I took the tux and the tailor pointed me to the dressing room. Once I put it on, I looked at my reflection. It fit. I thought that was the most important thing. The thing that mattered. I didn't really look the way I always look in the office, this tux made me look sharper. That was about it I think.

I stepped out, and walked that few steps towards them. "The tux is really stiff."

Alice squealed upon seeing me, while Mom was quiet and made her way to me. "My boy is all grown up and he's already getting married." Alice hugged her. "I'm fine, just a little emotional." Alice then made us all group hugged.

"Watch the tux." Mom warned.

"You'll cry more when Emmett is getting married. He's so much more immature yet you called me a boy."

"Maybe you won't have time to cry with all the jokes he cracks," Alice said. We all nodded in unison.

"All right then, let's have lunch."

The spirit of thanksgiving was high in the air; the smell of turkey filled my senses. Emmett and Alice were fighting over salad dressing when known to everyone, Emmett Cullen didn't eat salad.

Thinking of how I was spending time with my family I thought of Bella who was spending thanksgiving and Christmas with the Hales like she always did. When invited to spend it with us she politely declined saying that she wanted to spend it with Rosalie as some kind of memento.

Thanksgiving dinner began with Carlisle saying grace and everyone said what they were thankful for. My thanksgiving speech was, "I'm thankful for a great career, an awesome family… and a beautiful fiancée." I added at last.

At the end of the dinner Alice consulted her checklist.

"Bella still haven't decided on the venue yet." Perhaps that was what troubling her. "Maybe you can go talk to her about it. Now, I keep feeling like I'm missing something."

The checklist changed hands. Mom was reading from it now.

"All right, let's see, venue, unchecked. Music, checked. Theme, checked. Dress, shoes, accessories, checked. Tux, checked. Caterer, checked. Limo, checked. Guest list, checked. Jewellery?"

"I don't think Bella needs jewellery, her dress is heavy already. But you're right, jewellery, something _is _missing there."

Mom looked at me and focused on my hands on the armrest.

"Wedding bands! How could we forget?" she almost shouted.

"Oh my god. You're right." Alice was slapping her forehead.

"Bella is only free during the weekends; could you guys meet up and take care of it? You guys barely have times with each other. This is the time for you guys to talk. Oh, and the venue, please discuss about that too."

I picked up Bella that Saturday. She wore her usual, jeans and a shirt. She got in, put her seatbelt on and said hi and, "Your sister is one ball of energy."

"That is right." No one could deny that.

She only said that and was quiet along the way. After a while, I checked on her only to find her asleep with her forehead resting on the window.

Once arrived, I stepped on the brake as hard as I could and the car immediately came to a halt. Bella was thrown forward.

"What? What?" she asked looking left and right.

"We're here," I said calmly.

"You have to do that? You…!" she couldn't find any words to say and start hitting me with her little fist. It didn't hurt honestly, but when she only hit one spot continuously, it did hurt.

"Okay, all right. I'm sorry. But that was fun wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was!" She clapped her hands, widened her eyes in mock excitement and rolled her eyes. She took her seatbelt off and got out.

It felt like an accomplishment being able to bring that side of her out, because I really like this side of her; the witty, sarcastic side.

Picking out rings was easy. Now on the 'why haven't you picked any place yet?' topic.

"I don't want to lie in a church. It's a different level of wrong. I'm not devout or anything but I really don't want to do that." Was her explanation.

"In that huge folder, every venue is a church?" I asked her, incredulous.

"No, but, the other choices were overseas, halfway around the country, or close but really, really expensive. Too luxurious for a one-year old marriage."

Again with the money. I almost interjected but she continued,

"I have chosen a place, but I need to run it through you first."

"You know, you are given free reign when it comes to this whole wedding?"

"But I still have to run it through you."

"All right shoot."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Reviews are appreciated.

Sorry for being late again... :(


	12. Her Preparations

I'm back! Did you guys miss me?

Explanation below.

Finally beta'd

**Disclaimer: No Copyright infringement intended.**

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**Her Preparations**

* * *

**(Week 3 of August)**

After the dinner, everything was calm, serene, just the way I liked it. It turned out, the saying 'calm before the storm' was happening to me. Just three days after the dinner, Alice texted me saying that I should get ready and to tell Rose to do the same.

In an hour, she and Esme arrived to pick us up. Esme had a few folders on her lap. "Your classes are starting in two weeks, so we have to get the important things done first before you get busy. First thing on the list is the dress. Here we are."

As soon as she said that, she parked her car in front of what I assumed was a dress shop. Hours were spent finding dresses but none were found. We had a good laugh trying on ridiculous dresses. There was even a Bjork inspired dress; we laughed the most when I put that one on.

"This is hopeless," Rose said, "their dresses are nice but they really don't suit Bella."

Alice was looking rather sheepish. So I looked at her, "Do you have any ideas, Alice?" Still looking sheepish, she took out a file.

"I made these for my enrolment interview to a local university."

She handed the file to me. As I flipped the pages of the file, the amazement I felt increased. Alice really was an incredible designer. Rose's face showed the same feeling as well. There were only ten pages but I really couldn't choose.

"Alice these are beautiful. It's so hard to choose. You are a wonderful designer."

Alice was smiling so broadly almost every tooth was showing. Esme, too, was filled with pride for her daughter.

"How about we shortlist it? Okay, Bella , you don't like tiers, right?" I nodded. "So, numbers 5 and 8 are out."

That was a really good idea.

"No frills," I chimed.

"Out with 4 and 9," Rose said

"What is your favourite book?" Alice asked as we all fell silent.

"Wuthering Heights."

"So you like the classics. 1, 3 and 9 are classical inspired. Since 9 is out, that leaves us with 1 and 3,." Alice explained.

"I like number 10 too," I said.

Alice took out design number 1, 3 and 10.

The four of us studied the three designs carefully. Every aspect was covered. Will the dress effect my movement? Since I fall a lot and other things. Did the shade suit my skin tone? Since I had a very pale shade of skin that I tended to find matching colours that didn't wash it out to difficult. Finally we chose the design 10 with a bit of alteration on Alice's part.

"Okay, now that's done. The maid of honour's dress."

"Oh, I forgot." I shifted in my seat to face Rose. "Rose, would you be my maid of honour?"

"Really?!" She honestly looked surprised. How could she be? It was so obvious.

"It's not really a surprise, Rose."

"It's a surprise for me. Thank you!" She hugged me.

Esme and Alice laughed quietly at our exchange.

"What would you like your colour theme to be?"

"That's tough. I like blue. Different kinds of blue. Midnight blue, sky blue, turquoise, can't we have them all?"

"That _is_ tough. We can try having them all. Just in case we can't, which would be your favourite?"

"Midnight blue, I think. Can we have that?"

"Of course. Rosalie, that could be the colour of your dress," Esme said.

"I'm sure you're not worried. You can pull any colour off," Alice said.

Rose only smiled at that. Finding her a dress was a bit easier. At about five p.m., we were finally done, and they, thankfully, sent us home, my feet feeling like jellies. Rose still had energy; this was nothing compared to the shopping she always did. Alice was still as energetic as we started. She really was something.

Nothing really changed during the weekdays. I was just a regular student with friends and assignments. Weekends were so much different. Almost every weekend was spent with wedding preparations. I had to complete my assignments on the weekdays now and not push them till the weekends.

The good thing about that was I really couldn't procrastinate. The bad thing was that it was really a rush. To get the research done and the assignments – ugh – they just keep coming. My birthday was coming too. That was also somewhat a chore. Only when there was too much work such as time like these. The three of us – Rose, Jake and I – had tradition for each of our birthdays. Mine was for them to guess the food that I gave hints to.

.

**(Week 1 of September)**

"Which one would you like, dear?" the lady asked me.

I looked at Rose and she had the same puzzled look. "I honestly can't choose. Every cake tastes so good."

The things we had chosen for the cake were the no of tiers and the decoration of the cake. Suddenly an idea struck me. _Since we were already on the theme blue, why don't I choose a blueberry cake?_ The three of them seemed to agree.

"I was also thinking something astrological. Midnight sky with stars; that would be great. Where we grew up, clouds always cover the sky. We can rarely see the stars. Plus, Rose _loves_ reading the horoscopes." I made googly eyes at Rose who rolled her eyes at me.

"That's a good idea. Very unique. Maybe we can have the snacks shaped like the stars and moons," Alice added.

"The decoration on the cake also can be based on that," Rose said.

"Won't that appear childish? I mean, I used to shape my cookies like a star."

"It's your wedding, Bella. It's your day. They won't say a thing. Not that I would let them," Esme assured me.

"Yes. You're right. I guess it's fine as long as the wedding doesn't look like a wizard convention. And none of those lights, the ones like the disco ball," I amended.

"Definitely not. That would be horrid. This isn't as bad as it seems right, Bella? We're moving along just fine," Alice said.

"Yeah," I agreed.

.

**(Week 2 of September)**

Alice gave me the weekend off as she thought I had been running around too much and didn't want me to get too tired. But that didn't mean she would be completely quiet.

"Alice is pestering me about the venue," I complained to Rose.

"Of course she is, Bella. A venue is quite the essence, don't you think?"

"But those are churches, Rose. _Churches!"_

"It's a wedding, of course her choices are churches. Just shut your eyes and pick one," she suggested.

"The wedding is a fake, Rose. We are lying from the very beginning. How would you feel lying in the house of God?"

Apprehension was clear in her eyes. "Just put it off until we have figured it out."

I spent my weekend being productive – completing my assignment. But I couldn't finish it on the weekend so I had to continue doing it on Monday. That caused me to sleep late. And the better news was that I had an eight a.m. class. I was running around the house like a madman, searching for shoes, bag, files and my phone which was ringing at the moment. _Edward calling._

"Yeah." I was still panting from running around. Keeping my phone between my shoulder and my ear, I unlocked the car door.

"Happy birthday," he said. _He remembered._ I felt kind of ashamed that I didn't remember his.

"What, today?" I asked pretending to forget. "Let me check." I tapped on my phone pretending to check the calendar. "Oh yeah. It is. I forgot the date. Thanks. Really love to chat but I'm running really late."

I said bye and hung up. Talk about a slap right in the face. That was how I felt. It might not be his intention but that was exactly how he made me feel.

It was almost dinner; Jake and Rose were still out searching for the correct food. It was my birthday tradition. Jake's and Rose's birthdays both had different traditions. In the end, Rose won.

Edward sent me a text that night as I was contemplating that everlasting issue in my mind - the venue of the wedding. He, of course, wasn't of any help though he did offer his help. We continued texting each other until my eyes were heavy and I went to bed.

.

**(Week 3 of September)**

Darn. I forgot about this. This never crossed my mind at all.

"How much Bella? I need to print the cards." _Oh god what do I answer to this? _

Suddenly, like a light bulb being switched on at the top of my head, I remembered. They thought I was an orphan.

"I don't know, Alice. The only family I have is Rose." Alice looked like she was mentally slapping herself. That saved me.

"I'm sorry. I forgot."

But I could not have no guests, right? That would be sad. "Maybe twenty. I do still contact some of my relatives. Distant, though. They may or may not come."

She wrote that down in her notepad.

"Alice, I have free reign on the wedding, right?" she nodded. "Even the guest list?" She nodded again. "It's just that, I would like the guests from my side and yours to be made up of only families. You understand why I'm asking you this, right?" I carried on without waiting for her respond. My brain was working fast. Those writing classes sure help you get creative when required.

"All I wanted ever since my parents died was a family and I hoped to be surrounded by my family and soon-to-be family on my wedding."

Alice got up and hugged me. Guilt washed all over me. "Whatever you want, Bella."

"There's some more. During the ceremony, I want only immediate family. That means Carlisle, Esme, you, Emmett, and Jasper, too." She nodded.

"But then you…"

"Yes, just me and Rose on the other side. And you can have all your relatives during the reception."

.

**(Week 4 of September)**

This wedding planning thing felt so long, but only a little more than a month had passed. The things yet to be settled were the invitations, and the venue. _Where can I get married, that won't cost a fortune, and is not in a church?_ The wedding was in two months, I didn't think I could book any place this late. _Getting married is so hard. Why do people do it?_

I received a text from Alice.

_Just confirmed. Your wedding dress will be ready before Thanksgiving._

Thanksgiving, my time off. I would fly to Forks to celebrate it with Charlie. I just had to try on the dress and that was it. My weekend would be free of wedding plans and I would be miles away from the Cullens. Just me and Charlie – maybe Jake, too. Jake rarely missed Thanksgiving with us but sometimes when he did miss it he would be with his uncle – whom I didn't like. That also meant his uncle was behaving well enough for him to want to be there.

.

**(Week 1 of October)**

There wasn't anything for me to do that weekend and I spent it sprawled on Rose's bed, gossiping, getting some work done (very little on that part) and mostly just talking. We wouldn't have time to be doing this next year. Specifically in two months give or take – minus Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Suddenly my phone rang, it was Alice, she offered no greetings just, "Check your email quickly and try to respond before dinner. Bye!" She hung up without waiting for my reply. I didn't say a word during the 'conversation'. It wasn't a conversation when only one party was doing the talking.

I pulled Rose's laptop, which was already in front of us, towards me. I checked my email and there was only one new email: from Alice. It contained a picture of a car – a limo, to be exact – and about 30 'just married' signs varied in designs.

"She is nothing if not thorough," Rose commented.

"There are five more hours before dinner. Did she expect us to take that long to choose one?"

"Well, we did take three hours to choose a cake." That kind of made sense.

It really wasn't that hard to pick since the sign wasn't really as essential as cakes and dresses were. I chose design number 13 because that was Rose's favourite number, end of story. I replied to her email. Less than one hour had passed since her phone call.

.

**(Week 2 of October)**

Rose said she had plans for the guests. She wouldn't tell me what though. That most likely meant I wouldn't approve of her plans. But at this point I didn't mind really whatever plans she had in mind. She also said that her plan was another wedding present for me.

She was on the phone one day and as soon as she hung up the phone she spoke to me, "Everything is settled. Tell Alice you will need twenty invitation cards."

"How will I get twenty people to come…?"

She cut me off, "Everything is taken care of, Bella."

I told Alice exactly that and the design that I chose weeks ago was now in the form of a real card. I gave it to Rose since she was the one with the plan.

"All right. When you met Alice in two weeks, you will give these to her." She handed the cards to me.

"Who are these people, David Liner, Matt Gest, Adeline Forest...?"

"They are your relatives, Bella. Get yourself familiar to that idea."

.

**(Week 3 of October)**

My finals were in a month, so wedding stuff had to wait. Since Alice was also a student, she, too, was busy. Eye bags were forming under my eyes due to my lack of sleep; I would either sleep at the wee hours of the night, or wake up at that time to study until it was time to go to class.

Dinner was the time when Rose and I would ask each other questions. We would take each other's notes and start asking away. Whoever got a question wrong, the asker could steal some food off of her plate. It was more fun like that.

Sometimes Jake would join us. We rarely saw Jake on the weekends now since my weekends were occupied with wedding planning. When he asked, Rose said she dragged me shopping. The answer was a little hard to believe, but Rose gave him a look that shut him up.

.

**(Week 2 of November)**

My dress was ready so the four of us (me, Rose, Esme, and Alice) went to pick it up. I tried it on and tears were in my eyes. _Am I really ready for this?_ What I wouldn't pay to have my mother out there looking at me in my wedding dress. The first wedding dress I ever put on. Then I remembered, she wouldn't want to come anyway. _Come on, Bella, you chose this route, now you walk through it. Head held high. _As I thought that, I wiped my tears, held my head high and walked out with a smile on my face.

Rose stood first. "How do I look?" I asked her.

"You look..."

"Beautiful," Esme finished for her. "I can't believe I'm doing this again, crying at the sight of you in your wedding dress. I cried when I saw Edward in his tux."

"It's not every day you get to see your son get married," Alice said. "Right, Mom?"

She just nodded. Her tears almost brought my tears to surface. I kept my tears at bay by smoothing down my dress and kept looking down until I was certain I could look up without my tears betraying me.

As much as the compliments from Esme and Alice flattered me, it was Rose's whose opinion really mattered to me. I looked at her, and she knew immediately what needed to be said.

"Sweetie, no one will look at you and say you're not beautiful," Rose said earnestly.

.

**(Thanksgiving)**

Me, Rose and Jake took the same flight to Forks. Jake decided to spend the Thanksgiving with his uncle Sam while Rose would spend it with her parents and grandparents.

The 3-hour flight to really tired us out. When Rose's driver picked us up, we were more than grateful to sleep in the car.

I came home to an empty house, of course. I slept for hours until Charlie came to my room, waking me up. "Hey, kiddo."

"Uh, Dad," I said as I wiped my eyes. "Oh god, I forgot your dinner!" I flipped the duvet off and got up.

"If you're too tired, I can handle dinner."

"It's not just your dinner, Dad. I'm hungry too and never will I let you handle anything in regards to food when I'm around."

I weaved my hands around his and walked down. I could tell he was surprised but enjoyed it nonetheless. I wouldn't be around to see him for a very a long time and this was probably my last time seeing him before the wedding.

I spent that morning scouring the market for groceries. Being Charlie, nothing in the fridge was edible anymore, save the beer. He really fit the description of an alcoholic, only he wasn't. I wonder how much money he wasted on eating out. Guess I couldn't blame him, that guy couldn't cook if it were to save his life.

During lunch, I commented on his bulging belly and eating some greens to which he replied, "Your old man is still strong, Bells. Some bulging belly won't scare off the ladies," and something else about being healthy as a horse. I don't think he ever got over Renée. It was times as these that I hated my mom for breaking his heart. As long as he was happy, he could do whatever he wanted.

I started the dinner right after I cleared the plates. Then I heard the doorbell. I almost ran to get to the door, Feeling joyous all of a sudden. At the door, there were my two best friends.

"Surprise!" they both shouted in unison.

Rose looked happy, so was Jake, but he also looked like he was missing out on something.

"I forced him to come," she whispered to me. "Hey, Charlie." He greeted Charlie louder as she whispered that first sentence.

"Rose said that you were flying to Florida for Christmas so we '_must_' celebrate Thanksgiving together." Jake rolled his eyes. "Because we won't have next year." His voice was thick with sarcasm.

Oh Jake, if only you knew what was in store for me next year.

"My parents are coming, gramps couldn't make it. Something about her friend losing her husband."

I know how much Rose adored her grandmother. Not being with her this year must have saddened her, usually during festive season. They usually always made time to see each other during festive season, since they couldn't find time to see each other that often otherwise.

"So is Sam." I started to turn around. "He's alright now, Bells. He's got a girl now, so he's turning things around," Jake said.

_Who could that unlucky girl be?_

"Her name is Emily. Sam saved her from getting mauled by a bear. Shot it in the foot," he answered before I could ask.

"Give the guy a chance, Bells. Everyone can change. Besides, I've seen him. Finally getting to the gym and working out. That beer belly's almost gone." I involuntarily looked at Charlie who was watching the game.

"Fine. I will behave when he's here."

I sent Jacob to the grocery store since the guest list had increased from two to eight people. I had plenty of time to prepare dinner. Thank god.

Rose came into the kitchen while I was stirring the gravy.

"Thanks for doing this, Rose. It means a lot to have them around. Even Sam, if it's true he has changed."

"No big, I just want you to be surrounded with those close to you since you will be living with a stranger for the next twelve months. Do you even realize it's only two months away?"

"No, and that is mostly because of Alice. She really kept us busy. Plus the final and all. I didn't really notice the time."

Two months, minus 3-week finals, minus Christmas that left me with _a_ month. _Am I ready?_

The dinner went smoothly, Sam _had_ changed. He looked happy and calm. Before this he was haggard and volatile. Emily really changed him. They looked so cute together.

When the Hales, Jake, Sam and Emily had left, Charlie called me. From the sound of it, he had something serious in mind.

"Bells, is there anything big going on? I feel like…I don't know, like I'm being left out." I stared at him, shocked to say anything. "I trust you, Bells. That's why I let you go to Berkeley. So far away from home. I just can't shake this feeling."

_Lie._

"Nothing, dad. What big change is gonna happen? I'm still gonna study in Berkeley, live in Berkeley. You worry too much. Maybe because I left you alone too much." I might have laid it on too thick.

"Yeah, maybe. Just… tell me if anything major is gonna happen, all right? About leaving me alone, you _also_ don't need to worry. I can take care of myself and I understand you can't come home that often now that you're almost graduating. So it's okay."

I hugged him then, very tightly. "I love you, Dad." Charlie stiffened at the contact. Shocked by my action, but quickly hugged me back.

That moment, I had an idea. My problems were solved. It required a solid performance from yours truly but I thought I could pull it off.

.

**(Week 1 of December)**

Finals had started and I had three consecutive days of exams that week. Luckily it ended on Friday and I could get some rest the next day. A phone call from Alice cancelled that out. She said that Edward would pick me up tomorrow to buy rings.

Rose bought dinner for the both of us. I slept at ten because Rose said it was not good to sleep right after a meal. She said if I made it a habit, my tummy will be showing on my wedding day.

I received another phone call from Alice in the morning _before sunrise_ reminding me of my date with Edward. She sounded so chipper. Maybe she had too much caffeine. _No one can be that chipper this early._

When Edward picked me up and played that childish prank, I hit him on the same spot. That will make it hurt. The law of physics did state that the smaller the area the bigger the pressure it exert. I guess I proved it.

Picking rings was easy but Edward made it hard by insisting on buying rings with engravings like flowers and stuff that made it pricey. I wasn't backing down, but I received a phone call and had to step out to pick it up. When I returned, the rings were already in a velvet box.

Smiling so broadly, he said, "Why that was easy."

He asked about the venue, I forgot about the ring for now. I answered him straight. When he was quiet, I chimed in. "I have chosen a place, but I need to run it through you first."

"You know, you are given free reign when it comes to this whole wedding?"

"But I still have to run it through you."

"All right shoot."

Time for my solid performance.

"I have told Alice this, but I will say it again. I yearned for a family since my parents' death. I found family in Rose and that meant a lot. But through Edward, I found another family: you guys. This is where I found your family, so I'd like to have the wedding here. If that's possible."

The Cullens were quiet. Esme was the first to rise and my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my ears. She came to me.

"I'm glad you feel that way Bella but you cannot have the wedding here," She said with a straight face and I felt my heart rate quicken. The rest of the Cullens were shocked. "Not in the house. Would you like a backyard wedding?"

I let out a huge sigh. She really got me there. Emmett was laughing his usual boast of laughter and so was the rest of them.

"You scared me, Esme," I said as I hugged her.

"She is very interested in role-playing nowadays," Edward said. "She did the same to me when I was getting my tux done." He recounted the story to everyone.

Now everything's done. I just needed to get through my finals and Christmas. Then, it was my wedding.

On the last day of my finals, I received a text form Edward.

_'Could you please pack your stuff. It'll be easier for you to move out after Christmas.'_

When I read that text, it dawned on me that I was really getting married. It was no longer a distant possibility. It was definitely happening and it scared the hell out of me.

Rose asked me to go box shopping. Even she was quiet. We paid for the boxes and headed home.

"It'll be good, Bella. Maybe better than living with me. I mean, he has tons of money. Your place will be so awesome, I will be jealous."

We packed my stuff in silence. When we found things that held memories in them, we would reminisce on that and laugh again, be mad again, and cry again like we did the first time. The boxes weren't enough for all my stuff. Rose asked me to leave them behind.

"Then, where will your roommate sleep?"

"What makes you think I am gonna find another roommate?"

"You're not?" This was news to me.

"No! Because I don't think they can be as good as you. I'd rather live alone than live with someone I don't know, who knows behaves like god knows what and put up with that. You, Bella are second to none."

"Oh, that's so sweet." Later that night, we talked about everything except the fact that I was moving out and getting married.

I had to search for my clothes in the boxes whenever I needed them and I cursed Edward every time I did because he asked me to pack my stuff. Yet he did nothing, no picking up boxes, no update on anything.

When I complained to Rose, she said, "If he did take those boxes, what would you wear?" and again she was right. Rose was becoming the voice of reason when my mind was in the wedding haze. To be safe, the laundry from Christmas that I washed weren't packed along with those boxes.

The next day, Edward came to take those boxes.

"Are we staying far from here?" I asked as he took the box from my hand and placed it in the trunk of the Emmett's Jeep.

"Nope, it's about five miles from your college," he said as he took another box from me. When he put that in the trunk I ran to get another one but he beat me to it.

"Could you please just let me do it?"

Sometimes I forgot that chivalry still lived in Edward.

"What kind of a house is it?" I asked.

"It's a normal house."

"How normal?" The normal for the Cullens was ostentatious for me. That was why I had to ask.

"Very normal."

"Are you going there right now?" He gave a long pause and I took it as a yes. "I want to come with you."

"No, you can't!" he shouted, shocked. "It's a surprise. You'll see it later after the wedding, so what's the rush?" he lowered his voice.

Edward shut the door to the trunk and hopped inside.

"Bye ladies." And he left.

"I don't think I'm gonna like that house, Rose," I said as I took a seat on the couch.

"Oh, you'll like the house, just not the price. Wasn't the reason we said yes was to let you have some breathing space?" she said from the kitchen.

"Yeah but, I don't want to have too much breathing space and the Cullens is all about having too much. They are like the example of rich people who don't know what to do with their money."

"I'm hurt, Bella," Rose said and she took a seat beside me.

"No, you're not one of them. You shop for dresses that look good, so you know what you're doing with your money," I persuaded her.

"I'm just pulling your leg. You're funny when you're scared. Oh, Bella, what I'm gonna do without you? Who's gonna be my source of fun?" she whined as she put her arms around me.

"You can always come to my place for a sleepover. I can't sleep here. I have ground rules now."

"Oh yeah, those rules. Too bad. But I don't want to interrupt the newlyweds."

I threw the pillow I was holding right at her head. "Shut up, Rose."

Two weeks. Fourteen days. Three hundred and thirty six hours. Twenty thousand one hundred and sixty minutes. One point two-oh-nine-six million seconds.

* * *

So sorry for not updating. I just finished my studies and fully intending to follow my update schedule now.

Every Thursday unless I said otherwise. And, I'm gonna post another one this Thursday.

Reviews are appreciated.


	13. The Wedding

Hello readers. Here's next chapter as promised.

Thanks to Cal and Kenya.

Also to, **vampdaddy**, **iluvtwilight60**, and **romanceaholic.**

The previous chapter has been beta'd.

* * *

**The Wedding**

* * *

The Cullen household had been busy since two days ago. But it seemed that today was a hell of a lot busier than those days combined.

The catering company, the band, Esme and Alice were fluttering around making sure everything was perfect, and just the way the bride wanted the wedding to be. The tent was blue, the chairs were draped with midnight blue covering with white ribbon, and the finger food was shaped like a half crescent moon and stars. The ceremony would be held in the backyard.

Bella was in the guest room at the ground floor while Edward was in his room on the third floor. She was with Rosalie who was already done with her hair and makeup and had put her dress on. Bella was still on the chair with only a robe on, someone was doing her makeup and another was doing her hair. When those were done, she took her robe off and Rosalie eased her into the wedding dress. Barefooted, Bella stood in front of the mirror.

"This is it, Rosalie," Bella said, butterflies in her belly doubled with every second that ticked by.

"Yeah."

Then Rosalie heard a sob from Bella and she twisted Bella to face her and asked her what was wrong. It took Bella a while to answer her.

"I want my daddy!" she wailed.

"Oh, sweetie." Carefully not to ruin anything, Rosalie hugged her. She whispered words of comfort as Bella continued to wail.

"It was supposed to be him walking me down the aisle, with you as the maid of honour and Renee and Jake and people we know sitting watching us. Not alone like this. It's just wrong!"

"Bella, listen. This choice was made a long ago, between the two of us. I know only you will have to shoulder the responsibility. That's why I will always be here for you. I know you will live away from me and that's a first for the both of us, but we will make it through. We could still see each other at school. When you feel like you can't go on, remember our mantra. Do you still remember it?" Rosalie asked.

"Get in, get it done, get out," Bella whispered.

The girls' mantra had got them through the problems as well as into the problems. Whether it was getting into school properties late at night, sneaking out, or getting through a detention. It had helped them immensely.

"Exactly, what is our objective?"

"Get out." Her voice started to have more strength in it.

"So, let's do this so we can get out. If you don't do this, you can't get out. Right?"

She nodded. Rosalie took a tissue and dabbed on Bella's face. There was a soft knock on the door and Carlisle materialized.

"Carlisle, what are you doing here?" she asked, shocked.

"The father of the groom is allowed to see the bride before the wedding, Bella. You don't have to hide." Carlisle tried to make light of the situation for he had seen Bella's red eyes. He looked sheepish as he answered her question and closed the door behind him. "Alice said you might need me here. Are you okay?" He moved closer.

"Nothing. It's nothing," she answered.

"She misses her father," Rosalie explained.

Carlisle smiled, knowing now why Alice had sent him.

"Alice is always a step ahead." Looking at their perplexed faces, he explained. "Alice has what we call a sixth sense. She sometimes has a very strong feeling of what might happen. She must have known about you, Bella."

That statement actually made the girls' hearts beat double time. They were scared of Alice and her very strong feelings.

Carlisle continued, unaware of the look the girls gave each other. "Bella, I know your father is not here, but if you don't mind, I'll be glad to walk you."

Bella gave it no thought before answering. "I'd love that. Thank you, Carlisle."

He gave her a small smile and exited the room.

"I'm starting to like the Cullens," Rosalie said, clearly pleased that Bella would be off to a good family.

"Dude, you're getting married! I have never been happier to be wrong," Emmett said as his phone was heard beeping, signalling a text. Apparently he never let go of the fact that he once thought his step brother was gay.

"Shut up, Em." Edward was fiddling with his tie in front of the mirror.

Jasper—the traitor, Edward thought—actually agreed with Emmett, which didn't exactly give Edward the peace of mind Edward thought a groom was supposed to have before his wedding

"You both are not helping. I'm nervous. Why am I nervous?" He stopped fiddling with his tie and left it dangling around his raised collar.

"Of course you're nervous, man. You're getting married. Just calm down and you'll get over it. It's no good stressing yourself out."

Both Jasper and Edward were very surprised to hear that from Emmett. He was actually being serious.

"I told you that I've never been happier to be wrong. I really don't want your nerves to ruin the wedding." Emmett's phone beeped again. "I have to go. Alice needs my muscle." He got up and left the room.

"Marriage does that to you, fake or not. You are committing yourself to her. It's a big responsibility to shoulder, man. So, don't worry about your nerves. I'm sure everyone felt the same before their wedding."

Hearing that from Jasper, Edward actually felt better. Smug, even.

"I shouldn't be nervous. I mean, come on. What's so hard? One year and it's over."

"Life is a game, Edward. What you're going into is also a game. It's a dangerous game you're playing. Be careful, you might fall for her," Jasper said. He apparently had a very strong feeling that this would happen. Bella was a very nice young lady and in a year a lot could happen. He just hoped it was for the best that these two met each other.

_Just a little game to make_ _the time worthwhile._

Edward shivered at his memories and tried to humour himself. He snorted and said, "Bella is definitely not ugly, but I wouldn't say she's so damn beautiful either. Besides, I don't think she's my cup of tea. So, don't worry about me."

"How long should we wait? I want to mingle already." Jasper decided to leave the conversation and a smug Edward at that. He will know soon enough the consequences of his decisions and Jasper hoped that he would be ready. For someone who had never been in love, Edward had a very shallow concept about that. He didn't choose beauty over brains, he preferred both even, more so the latter than the former but, he felt like Bella didn't leave him too much of an impression. Jasper actually thought otherwise. He saw the way Edward looked at Bella sometimes. It wasn't a look of love, but maybe a fascination and that was something to go on with when it came to Edward and his baggage.

"Esme will tell me when it's time. I think it's less than half an hour. Relax, dude. Look at me, I'm relaxed." Smug Edward was here to stay.

"Yeah? You won't be for long. Does she know about the honeymoon?"

Edward had been putting off telling her about the honeymoon. He knew she'd freak out. This time not only at the generosity of his parents but also at the fact that they were not like normal married couples who spent their honeymoon never leaving their room.

Carlisle had paid the full expense of the honeymoon trip. It was to Japan. Which Carlisle just got back from and thought that it was a great country. The couple would be spending a week in Tokyo and another week at a place of their choice.

"Maybe she'll take it nicely. Who knows?" Jasper shrugged.

But Edward knew better. Bella wouldn't take it nicely. She would find a way to reciprocate. That much he knew about his wife-to-be.

Esme appeared at the door informing them that it was time. Jasper took it as his cue to leave. Esme looked at her son.

"You take good care of yourself." She began to tie his tie that he gave up on before. "Remember that you have another person to take care of."

Once she tied his tie perfectly, she put the collar down and tapped on it twice. "We better go. I don't want the water works to start."

Alice was the one who went to the bride's room. "Bella," she called, peeking in from the door. "It's time. Carlisle is waiting for you. Edward and the rest are already outside. I'll give you two a moment. But don't take too long."

Once she was out of the room, Rosalie took Bella's hands in hers and looked at her squarely in the eye. "You can do this. I want to hear you say it."

"You can do this," Bella said.

They both laughed. She took a deep breath and said, "I can do this."

"I can't hear you!" Rosalie mimicked the pirate's voice in the opening of _Spongebob Squarepants_

"I can do this!" she almost shouted.

"That's my girl. Get in, get it done, get out. Remember that. Keep it in your mind as you walk down the aisle."

And that she did.

Rosalie was at the door leading to the backyard with Alice on her side reminding her of the plans that she had repeated continuously so Rosalie still remembered what she was supposed to do.

"Keep it together, Bella. Once the wedding march begins, count to five and start walking." Alice said and left to sit with the rest of her family.

The wedding march began.

The door was opened.

Bella was still furiously chanting her mantra.

Edward was standing at the altar waiting for his bride. Emmett, his best man, tapped him on the shoulder as Rosalie came into view. Edward could hear Emmett whisper to Jasper, "She's hot."

Once the wedding march began, Edward began to look up, but still kept his head to the reverend.

"You ready?" Carlisle asked her. She just nodded; unable to do anything else, but running the other way did cross her mind.

She mustered a smile and started walking along with Carlisle.

Edward let go the breath he'd been holding since Emmett tapped him on the shoulder. Feeling the tingling down his spine, he started to turn around and saw Bella walking to him.

_You have another person to take care of._

_It's a dangerous game you're playing. You might fall for her._

Edward concentrated on keeping those thoughts at bay. By the time he succeeded, Bella was already at his side. Carlisle linked Edward's arm to Bella's and sat beside Esme.

The ceremony was just the way Bella wanted, less than 20 people in attendance including the reverend and the band.

"Isabella Marie Swan, do you take this man ..." the rest was lost on Bella as she kept thinking,

_Oh my god, oh my god, what should I answer to that. Damn it. Come on, Bella, calm down._

Edward was amused looking at Bella's panicked face.

"I do," she finally answered.

"Edward Anthony Cullen, do you take..." now it was Bella's turn to feel amused. Not only was his name peculiar, his middle name was even weirder. Not to mention funny.

_Maybe I should call him Tony. That would be hilarious._

Edward was a bit peeved as his attempt to keep a poker face failed with Bella's silent laughter sometimes escaping her lips.

"I do," he said, looking slightly annoyed.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," said the reverend.

Say what now?

It was definitely a tie on whose face was more appalled. It was clear that they never thought about this before, though they know it was customary in weddings. They didn't manage to put two and two together.

Seeing Bella wasn't gonna move, Edward took it. When Bella saw Edward was inching closer, she was fighting the urge to turn away.

For Edward, he thought it would be just like kissing any other girl he had kissed before. Somehow this was different. He should know this would be different. Bella wasn't like any other girl he had met. From the smell of her hair, to the taste of her lips, it was all fitting. She didn't smell like too much perfume was sprayed on her. In fact, it didn't smell like any perfume was sprayed at all. She smelled very natural.

Bella, who hadn't kissed anyone since her last boyfriend, which was almost four years ago, prayed so hard that it wouldn't be the same like kissing _him_. Her prayer was granted. Kissing Edward emit something from her. She felt what she always heard Rosalie talked about – sparks maybe it was fireworks. When she registered that, she thought, '_oh no,'_ and broke the kiss.

_This marriage would be a long one._

They looked at each other after that, a very long intense look which was ended by the claps of everyone around them. They walked away from the altar, down the aisle, hand in hand.

The electricity they always felt?

Oh, it was there.

Continued to be ignored by the couple.

Outside, the reception had started full swing. Guests all cheered at the sight of them as they made their way to the main tent in the front yard.

To Bella's joy, the guests weren't many. They began the first dance and she asked Edward about it.

"You already know that Carlisle and I were from Italy. We moved here when I was four. We left everyone there and we had no relatives here. We basically uprooted ourselves." As they were moving around the dance floor, Edward pointed to some people. "That's Marcus, Aro and Caius: Carlisle's brothers. Their children should be around here somewhere mingling with the ladies. Marcus has no children. His wife died and he never remarried."

That reminded Bella of her own father and felt her chest constricted.

"What about your mom?" Though they never talked about it, Bella kinda knew that Edward's biological mother was off limits.

"I never met Esme's side of the family. Esme was married to an abusive husband. When she found out that she was pregnant with Emmett she packed her bags and made a run for it. Emmett fell sick one night when he was six. Carlisle was on call coincidentally. He wasn't a paediatrician and explained that to her but she wouldn't hear of it. So he tried his best and that was how they met."

Bella had the feeling that the story was edited but left it alone. It wasn't her place to pry.

The dance ended and the toasts began.

Emmett stood up and gave his toast. "Hi, I'm Emmett, the best man, also the brother of the groom. Edward here has always been a mystery to me. I thought he would never marry but here he is, already married to Miss Bella Swan. Oops my bad. Miss Bella Cullen." The crowd gave a silent laugh. "All right, I wanna talk about serious stuff now. Bella, I'm thankful for your presence in Edward's life. Edward has never opened up to people the way he did to you. He has smiles that reach his eyes almost like Cheshire cat and annoy the hell out of me because I hate 'Alice in Wonderland' thanks to our very own Alice Cullen." The crowd laughed again as Alice mocked a punch at Emmett's face. "Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway, your presence has done nothing but good things to my brother and my family. Esme is happy now that her quest to find Edward a bride never has to start. All thanks to you, Bella. Welcome to the family."

Everyone drank to that and Bella was seen wiping tears out of her eyes. She continued to stew over her deceit on what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, oblivious to the content look Edward was giving her.

.

Three-tier cake standing before them, Edward took the knife, "Let me guess, blueberry?" he said as Bella held the handle of the knife.

"I don't know, maybe." Her voice shook. "This knife is very long, scary." She sounded genuinely scared. Edward who didn't know about her clumsiness then, just thought that it was weird but held the knife more firmly in his hands.

They cut the cake and fed slices of it to each other. Then the bride and groom went and mingled with the guests.

Aro came to Bella, speaking only in Italian. Bella, who understood nothing, just said "_Oui_," although she knew it was French and laughed when he laughed. Edward arrived with their drinks and gave a one armed hug to his uncle.

"Edward, I was just telling your wife how beautiful she is and what a miracle she has done for cracking your shell."

Edward's face fell a little at the last word but he quickly composed it.

Bella saw that and changed the topic, "You can speak English? Here I am thinking '_what is this guy talking about?'_"

"I was just teasing you. You were good. If I didn't know better I might think you knew Italian." That compliment did nothing but further prove that Bella had become a better liar as the day went by. And that didn't please her one bit.

"Aro, I'm so sorry but there's another person I want Bella to meet."

Bella kept her tongue from asking about the shell comment. She was introduced to more of his family. His cousins were funny but they were the size of Emmett and it scared her at first.

Bella already told the Cullens that she didn't know any of her relatives and this was the second time meeting them after her parents' funeral. That helped a lot since they didn't ask questions.

Rosalie finally explained who those so-called relatives were. They were interns working in her father's company. She told her father that she needed to borrow twenty of them for a carnival. Her father never checked her story. She also said not to worry because they wouldn't blab. That only made Bella wonder what she told them to make them keep their mouth shut.

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After the bouquet toss, Alice changed Bella into a simple dress. She got out of the room and Edward was there waiting for her. He took her hand and she asked for Rosalie. When she spotted Rosalie, they both hugged and cried, letting everything unsaid unfold in their actions. They broke off and wiped their tears.

"Go, he's waiting for you." Rosalie pushed her.

"It won't be long. It'll be over before you know it," Bella said in a soft voice. She was the one consoling Rosalie this time.

The couple then exited the house and entered the limo. In the end, only one limo was used, and Alice wasn't that happy.

"Are we going to your house now?" Bella asked. Not forgetting his reluctance to show her the house the other day.

"No we are actually putting my parents' gift to use." He was beating around the bush. Still stalling, assessing her reaction.

"What does that mean? What did they give us?" she asked in very controlled voice and that scared him more.

"Before I tell you, you have to know that no matter what you say or do, it won't change anything." Bella waited patiently. "We are going to Japan."

Bella started hyperventilating. Edward was worried but didn't know what to do. Though he was her husband, touching her didn't seem appropriate. Despite all that, she managed to croak, "Why?"

"Their present is a trip to Japan. Wearegoingtohaveourhoneymoonthere."

She didn't catch all of that but she did catch up on honeymoon. Her eyes widened and her hyperventilating worsened.

"Calm down, Bella. We have an," he looked towards the driver, relieved that the barrier was up. He continued, "agreement. I won't violate it."

He resolved to brush her back as she put her head between her knees. When her breathing had evened out, he patted her shoulder. "All better now?"

"Yeah, you better keep your promises, Edward," she said. "And behave yourself."

"Of course," he replied, eyes glistening with mirth.

* * *

Reviews are appreciated


	14. The Honeymoon

I'm late again. I'm sorry.

Thanks to PTB for their patience in correcting the grammar-challenged chapter.

Also to **romanceaholic**, **iBaby**,** iluvtwilight60**, **vampdreams**, **cullenmeadow**.

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Since they are in Japan they are a few sushi names in there. Google it for the picture.

Ika: Sushi rice topped with squid.

Shirauo: Sushi rice topped with Japanes Squid and wrapped with seaweed.

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_Previously on AY+_

_"Their present is a trip to Japan. Wearegoingtohaveourhoneymoonthere."_

* * *

**The Honeymoon**

* * *

**Day One**

The couple finally reached their room. In no time, Bella had opened every door, inspecting every inch as she had done every time she went to a new place. She made a decision to forget the ridiculousness that had become her life and to just enjoy this gift.

"Wow."

"Woah."

"Nice."

"Cool."

"Awesome."

These were the words coming from her mouth. But the last word was:

"_Damn."_

"Dibs." Edward said as he slowly walked behind her.

"You can't call dibs. I was here first."

"Being here first doesn't make it yours. Calling dibs make it yours, so the bed is mine." Jet lag might have been the cause behind his grumpiness. But all his thought centred in the bed in front of him and continue the sleep he had ended hours ago as he felt the fatigue was slowly, but surely, catching up with him.

Or maybe he was paying Bella back for slapping his wine glass, causing the wine to end up staining his shirt, which he couldn't change because he hadn't packed an extra shirt in his carryon.

"But the couch is comfy." He pointed to the couch in front of the TV. "Didn't you say 'nice' when you saw it?" He winked and shut the door. Bella, who was standing on the threshold, was forced to take a few steps back.

In Bella's defence, she had accidentally slapped Edward's wine glass, but remembering the fact that Edward had flicked her nose that caused her to woke up from her sleep, she didn't feel apologetic. She thought of it as a payback. Edward's reason for waking her up had been, "I can't sleep, so you can't either."

_Unbelievable._

She then proceeded to knock, scratch that, _banged_ on the door, loudly. Edward, who had dived into the bed without taking his clothes off groaned at the sound and placed the pillow on top of his head, ignoring the noise. But the banging never ceased.

"Leave me alone!" he shouted.

"Open up!"

_Let's just get this over with, _he thought.

"What?" he said as he opened the door.

"I want the room," she said petulantly.

"Well, you can't have it."

"But..."

"Fine, you can have the room. But I'm not leaving this room either. So let's practice 'sharing is caring,' shall we?" He grabbed Bella's hand and made their way into the room together.

When his step seemed to be zeroed in on the bed, she then realised what he was doing and pulled her hand away. She sent a spine-chilling glare his way and stomped out of the room.

Edward pushed the guilt out of his mind and started to strip to his boxers and get to sleep; however, this time, it didn't make him feel like a winner when Bella looked defeated.

Bella set her bag in the living room couch, took out her PJ's and went into the bathroom, producing a stream of colourful language. Once changed, she set up her 'bed' which was the couch, and then she noticed that she didn't have any blankets and let out a string of profanities. Hearing Edward's snore, she cursed at him. Becoming aware of her swearing problem, she used a vulgar word once more before promising herself that she wouldn't let Edward Cullen cause her to ever use crude words again. At least during the honeymoon.

She used her sweater as her blanket and two pairs of sock to shield her from the cold and went to sleep.

At 11PM, Edward woke up automatically as it was actually 6AM back home. He hadn't adjusted well to the change in time zones yet. He went to the loo and searched for some water. On his way, he saw a shivering Bella on the couch. He ignored her and made his way to the kitchen. On his third step, he halted.

_Your sense of responsibility will help you. Your gentlemanly ways will make sure that you won't hurt the girl in any way_.

Esme's words rang in his head.

With a silent 'damn it,', he went back to his room and grabbed the blanket off his bed. As he was about to wrap it around her, she woke up.

When her eyes set on him, she said with venom, "What?"

While Bella's eyes adjusted to the dark blanketing the room, Edward changed his mind about covering her, and wrapped the blanket around his waist. He was wearing only his boxers.

"Just checking if you're still alive, considering how cold Japan at this time of the year."

She snorted. "It's going to take more than that to kill me." She was feeling the beginning of flu at the back of her throat, but he wasn't going to know. She fell back into slumber, ignoring Edward standing at the back of the couch.

He chuckled at her statement and went to the fridge. On his way, though, he switched off the air conditioner.

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**Day two**

Bella remembered her vow last night to not use any crass words for the rest of their vacation and decided that, to do so, she would have to not talk to Edward or give him any time of the day. He could get under her skin like no one else could.

She made up her bed, brushed her teeth, and she made herself some breakfast. She was on her second slice of toast when Edward walked out of the room freshly showered and looked like he was having the time of his life. She looked the other way when he came into the kitchen with a big smile that almost touched his ears. He was really taking the statement he made during the prenup signing seriously and had made this a game. Only, his level was apparently preschool, considering the figurative hair tugs Bella was enduring.

"Morning," he greeted.

She shoved the remainder of her toast in her mouth and ignored him. She picked up her plate and drained the last of her milk as she was on her way to the sink and washed them. He only looked at her, still amused. He thought she was cute, acting like that.

She petulantly made her way to the living room where she decided to spend the night, leaving Edward, who was still wearing the amused grin, in the kitchen. She missed the grin since she was studiously ignoring him. She was happy with the newfound peace and switched the TV on.

He stayed in the kitchen, making himself the same breakfast and took the plate and the glass of milk to the living room where she was watching some Japanese cartoon.

He took a seat next to her, inching closer as she moved further away from him.

_No. 131) No regards of personal space._

Bella added that to the list of things people might not know about Edward Cullen.

He filled the silence with meaningless chatter mostly about the cartoon they were watching. She bit on her lip, holding her laughter in when the character was being really funny, not wanting to let him think that he was succeeding in making her talk.

Meanwhile, he was determined to crack her. For, somehow, her silence was turning out to be quite awful. Not to mention that they were married and now stuck with each other for one full year–which was not a short time—so the silence would definitely make things awkward. So communication was a must for two cultured human beings in order for harmony to be achieved. Or so he believed.

_Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Cullen, _his conscience said.

"You're really not going to talk to me?" he asked her.

Again, he was answered by silence. She was focusing her attention on the cartoon that was in Japanese–with no subtitles. He took the remote and switched it off.

_No. 241) Does not appreciate the glory of Saturday morning cartoons._

Now she was focusing on the blank TV screen. Not only had he crashed her personal space, he was also in her makeshift bedroom. Trying to find her Zen place, she grabbed her toiletries and clothes and stomped to the bathroom.

She had her bath, extra-long, playing with the bubbles until there weren't any, and at one point, she fell asleep. When she woke up, her fingers were like raisins and there were constant knocks on the door.

"Wake up, Bella. Did Freddy Krueger get to you?" he said in a singsong voice.

She growled and got out of the tub. When she was dressed, the living room was clear of Edward.

"Boo!"

"Oh my God! What the hell, Edward?" She was clutching her heart, securing it in her rib cage.

"Ah… got you talking now, didn't I?"

Bella ignored him and switched on the TV.

"Aw, come on, Bella. We're gonna spend a week here. Might as well be civilised. I'll make you a deal–you remember about the house I bought?" When she nodded, he continued, "I will give you free reign on interior design. Which means whatever you say, goes. Which I know would be not buying expensive stuff." He didn't want her to think he was a softie for relinquishing his hold on the bedroom, which frankly was god-awesome. It had memory foam. That was definitely god-awesome in his dictionary. "How about that?"

He had the first claim to the bedroom and also because he called dibs first.

Was it ever mentioned how childish he was?

She seemed to be thinking really hard, but agreed to it nonetheless, and shook his hand to seal the deal. Truce had been called, white flags now in the air and the couple decided for a day out.

They went for a walk, basically going nowhere, just talking, being civil to each other and getting to know one another better. When it was time for lunch, they walked in the first restaurant they spotted. To his joy, and her annoyance, it was a sushi restaurant.

Noticing her reaction, he asked, "You're not allergic to seafood right?" ready to find the next restaurant.

She shook her head no, for it wasn't seafood she was allergic to. It was the two sticks people used to eat them with.

Maybe he had forgotten that she didn't know how to use chopsticks.

But he hadn't forgotten. It was once of the first things to cross his mind when his father presented him with the gift of honeymooning in Japan: his vow to make sure Bella knew how to use the chopsticks before their marriage ended.

When they were seated, he started grabbing plate after plate from the conveyor belt. Bella only looked at him, surprised. He only shrugged as an answer. Bella didn't take as many as plates as he did, but the two of them made quite a sight with their plates on the table.

He unwrapped the chopsticks. Bella was rubbing her hands together, and had almost grabbed the _shirauo_, when the plate was snatched away from her sight. She blinked.

"You're not using your hands to eat sushi, Bella," Edward said.

"They're clean. Give it back."

Even when she had about twenty plates in front of her, and seven of them were her favourite, she chose to fight Edward for the one he had in his hand.

If you asked her why, she would say something about always starting her sushi meal with the _shirauo._

But the actual reason lies within this question.

Was it ever mentioned how childish _she_ was?

Statement retracted. Would you like to know how childish these two could get?

"It's not about the cleanliness of your hands. You're in Japan. You have to respect their culture. Eating with cutlery other than chopsticks is a sin," he said, absolutely serious.

"Did you just make that up?" She was smiling at the ridiculousness of that statement.

"No, it's true. You can Google it." He puffed his chest out like Superman without the hands on his hips and said, "I will make sure, that you know how to use these things..." he clanked his chopsticks together "...before the honeymoon ends."

He had shortened the period of learning from one year to two weeks. He might need a shrinking ray for his confidence or it was just what he needed for her to really learn the art of chopsticks–the intensive crash course way, considering Jacob had tried and failed even with five years of teaching experience.

"Good luck with that," she warned him.

Their lesson began. Both were cooperative at first. But their patience wore thin, their hunger getting the best of them. He decided that they both wouldn't eat unless she could at least grab her _ika_ for five seconds. Previous rules included, without dropping the squid, without dropping the whole thing, for ten seconds.

Before one of them exploded, she called it quits but he wouldn't hear of it. The pep talk he was giving only succeeded to annoy her so much, she only wanted him to stop talking.

She squeezed her fingers so tight that she emerged victorious, as well as happy to have the _ika_ in her mouth.

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"Thank God. Let's eat," he groaned.

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**Day four**

Still on the lesson of chopsticks. Takeout boxes on the living room table. TV turned on but ignored. The couple were seen giving each other heated glares. In the red corner, Miss Swan had tossed the chopstick to the other side of the room. In the blue corner, Mr. Cullen had his eyes closed and his nose bridge pinched, breathing slowly through his mouth.

"It's been almost two hours, and I'm hungry as hell," Bella said.

"I didn't say you couldn't eat."

She had been making real progress that he didn't think he needed to impose that rule. Even a military style crash course taskmaster had a heart. Especially when Edward Cullen was teaching the course.

"Well, you didn't say that I _could_ eat." How was she supposed to know that she could have eaten? His rule had always been they both wouldn't eat until a certain milestone was reached.

And today's milestone was: to not squeeze your hands too hard just to keep the sushi from falling.

That and the fact that he persistently said, '_let's go again,_' even before she could think of popping the damn sushi in her mouth.

Edward, who was at first sitting opposite her, was now sitting beside her, eating the takeouts together. His eyebrows were having a meeting at the centre of his forehead. She used her thumb and forefinger of her left hand to pry them apart. "You'll get wrinkles if you do that."

Her mood was better now that she had food in her stomach. It wasn't the fact that she soothed his forehead that energized him, but it was the electricity that they couldn't blame on the faulty wiring anymore.

Ah, yes. The couple still ignored it.

He was angry, not at her, but at himself, for he wasn't used to not accomplishing what he had set as a goal. She told him that he still had another week left. That made him feel a little better. She, never having seen anyone who was determined enough to teach her, actually found herself willing to try harder.

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**Day six**

He needed three more before he called it.

"That's it, Bella. Come on," he urged.

When she finished with her three, they both had their mouth open, eyes wide, not believing what just happened.

"You did it!" He was the first to shout.

"I did it!" They both jumped up in joy, hands in the air.

"Wait, I have a surprise for you." Edward ran into his room and came out with his hands hidden behind his back.

He put on a serious face and in a serious voice, he said, "Congratulations, Miss Swan."

He shook her hand and presented her with a paper. She laughed out loud when she read what was on the paper.

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CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE

To

_**Isabella Marie Swan**_

For completing

_**The Military Crash Course to Learning the Art of Chopsticks**_

This certificate is given to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the recipient

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"Thanks," she said, really appreciating the lengths he'd gone to for the certificate, which now made her wonder whether it was made in Japan or he had planned it since he knew of her inability to use chopsticks.

The "certificate" was as awesome as far as fake certificates went. He had even signed it down at the bottom.

They had a great time in Japan thanks to Bella, who finally knew how to use a pair of chopsticks. The next day, they would be spending their last day in Japan. Their last destination in Japan was befitting to the both of them, the two childish people.

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**Day seven**

They went to Disneyland that last day. They chose to go at night when the bright lights were just beckoning them to ride everything in sight.

"Welcome to your childhood, Swan."

Somehow Edward doubted Bella had gone to an amusement park that often in her life, since her parents had divorced and had then eventually left her when she was eighteen. She probably must have gone, but not as often as he did. Her twinkling eyes proved that for him.

Edward's notion was half true. Bella didn't go to the amusement park as often because there weren't any in Forks. There was the one she had visited when she was in Phoenix, but she didn't go too often because she always had an accident every time: she sprained her ankle, she broke a bone, she lost her money, and the list went on. So she went very scarcely. Once every three years.

She was not letting this chance go. Disneyland, in Japan, no less. Adrenaline rush was sure to be in store for them, for this park had everything. For a clumsy person, Bella Swan really liked park rides.

They skipped all of the themed areas but the Tomorrowland, which promised rides after rides. They took it slow, strolling around, first trying everything that was offered on the ground, before riding anything that would throw them off of it.

First they got themselves some cotton candy and did the whole stealing food off of each other's hand and chasing each other around the rides. Basically just acting like kids, using their newfound politeness towards each other. They stopped at a shooting booth, panting. Bella looked up at Edward, asking him to shoot it for her, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to. Edward just laughed but refused. Now that he knew Bella was a klutz, he didn't waste any chance to see it. They made a deal for Bella to shoot one round and Edward would get two items for her. Bella sucked obviously, and Edward was laughing so hard at her. That got her in a bad mood. But when Edward got her the two items: a giraffe and a Doraemon, she was all smiles. As Edward recounted the disaster that was Bella and a gun, Bella couldn't help but smile at him, remembering him in a jovial mood and his serious face while shooting to get her the toys. Edward, too, sneaked a look at her while she was stroking her teddies.

Once they were sure they didn't miss any booths, they went to ride the rides that would throw them off the ground.

They started with a roller coaster. As the crept closer to the entrance, Bella started to get nervous, sure she liked the rides, but it had been a long time. She didn't show it on her face but it was showing in her wringing hands. Seeing a Japanese boy coming off the ride with no fear at all, she started to feel confident. As it turned out, the ride was scary, Edward's hand was sore from Bella's tight squeeze, but she started to enjoy herself on the second half of the ride and they both really enjoyed coming back to their childhood.

They went around the park making sure every ride was ridden but found out that they missed a booth: a photo booth. She tugged on Edward to take some pictures only to find the hand she tugged on had no electricity and the owner of the hand looking funnily at her.

"Gomenasai," she apologised to the man.

She looked around for Edward, his height giving him an advantage, for Japanese men weren't as tall. But he was nowhere in sight. She walked around trying to find him.

Half an hour in, she started to feel her eyes getting watery. Reality that she might have lost him dawned on her; she was in Japan with a language barrier so big that the Great Wall could pass through, and she had no means of contacting Edward for he kept all the Yens, and her phone didn't work in Japan.

An hour later, she stopped walking and sat on a nearby bench. People were looking at her. A crying grown woman in an amusement park was bound to draw attention. Besides, if she kept walking it would be harder for Edward to find her.

Edward just relieved himself and went out to find Bella, but she wasn't there. He, too, started to sweat when he couldn't find her after half an hour, not because of walking around too much but from never seeing her again. His mind started to conjure all the image of her being held up and taken for ransom.

Suddenly his eyes caught on a figure on a bench in front of him. It was Bella. She had her knees to her chest and hands around her ankles. Her forehead was on her knees, and from the movement of her shoulders, she seemed to be sobbing.

He let out a huge sigh of relief and advanced slowly, hands outstretched. He tapped her knees twice. She was shocked and almost screamed but stopped herself when she saw who it was.

What she actually did frightened Edward more than if she were to scream.

"Where were you?" she wailed.

His eyes widened at the volume she used to project her voice and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Thankfully the park was noisy and very few people were looking their way .

"I went to the toilet. I told you to stay put. Why weren't you there?" he explained.

Truth was, Bella didn't hear him saying that. If memory served her correctly, the last time she remembered Edward being there was the time she saw a girl walking past her with ice cream about six inches tall without the cherry on top. She followed the way the girl came from and saw the photo booth.

"I saw…" she trailed off, quite embarrassed to say that an ice cream managed to distract her "…an ice cream."

Edward laughed at that. Seeing him laugh, she started to cry again. Giving in to her childishness, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to a standing position before hugging her and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Don't do that again," he said to her.

In the end, Bella did get her ice cream with cherry on top and a wafer stick on the side.

* * *

I have written about three chapters up. the Beta'ing process is sometimes long, so I'm sorry about that.

To be safe, i will update every two weeks on Thursday.

Both my betas are busy so they had to pull out. I really need a pre-reader, would any of you be willing to be my pre-reader?

Thanks for reading.

Reviews are appreciated. They will or will not quicken the updating process though.


	15. His First Three Months

Hello faithful readers. I'm late again. I apologise.

Thanks to PTB for beta'ing this chapter.

Also to vampreaders for agreeing to become my pre reader.

and the people who reviewed last chapter.

* * *

**His First Three Months**

* * *

The three weeks since we got back from Japan seemed to fly by as we were busy trying to get our house into order. When Bella first saw the house, her reaction was nothing less than expected. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. She then slowly turned to look at me, her eyes narrowing into a steely glare. But then she shocked me when her mouth suddenly turned up into a half-smile. That last bit I didn't understand or expect.

Her explanation was, "You already bought the house, and no fit that I throw is going to change that. The house is lovely by the way. One year here will be great."

We got separate rooms next to each other on the first floor. The room converted to the study was next to mine. I did some renovations to Bella's room: her room was built with bookshelves in her south wall. No I didn't buy her book shelves. I had them built for her, to which she squealed saying thanks when she stopped jumping, she had her hands clasped under her chin and looked at me. Her eyes pleading.

"All right," I acquiesced. Knowing full well she wanted me to leave. "I'll leave. You can bask in all the glory of the room."

Her reaction really made me happy. It was comforting to know that I could make her happy the short while she would be here under the contract we both signed. Somehow, the agreement that I should only pay her monthly for college didn't seem enough. She had sacrificed a lot for me and I knew that the reason she agreed was so that she could get through her studies.

Although she was happy to have her room, she had to live from a box that first week, not unpacking anything yet because of the housewarming party we were having in the weekend. I was glad that crossed her mind because it would be weird to have our stuff in separate rooms when they came. Surely they would want a tour of the house when they got here. The plan worked successfully. Seeing her boxes in the other room only raised a few questions to which we answered, "We haven't got to those yet. We were busy."

They only smiled at our answer. Emmett was giving me the two thumbs up and a slightly evil smile. Only then I recognised the double meaning to the statement I just made. My parents brought the wedding presents that day as well.

There wasn't much given the amount of the attendees that day. We opened the presents after my family left. Bella opened the packages slowly, ripping the tape carefully and making note of the sender, whereas I just tore at the paper.

Thanks to Bella, the presents were put to good use. Most of the presents were household stuff, so Bella who was adamant that the kitchen was left alone when we were buying the furniture was smiling wide.

She was really being a good sport about this whole receiving thing. Though I didn't see it coming, it wasn't unwelcomed. In fact, if she kept it up, I would be the happiest man alive. After she had put all the household appliances away, she went upstairs to set up her room. I followed her upstairs to help but she turned around and stopped me.

"Rule number 6." And she shut the door.

I totally forgot about the rules. I really needed to read the contract again or I would lose.

That was how we spent January.

Come February, Bella was scarcely seen. Well to her, so was I. She was busy with school, and I was busy with work. As the COO (Chief Operations Officer), I have to supervise daily operations, especially now that we were quickly rising; it's a lot of work. However, on the upside, customers come to find us instead of us finding them. Though that gave us profit, it also brought more workload to us. The way business was booming, more workers and space were needed.

This was expected. Since our inception, the only goal in our mind was to grow bigger.

Bella, who, as far as my knowledge, had three semesters left before graduating, sometimes came home late also. By late I mean she came home around the same time I did. When that happened, I knew that she was spending time at her old place.

One time after dinner, I asked her the question that had been bugging me since Disneyland.

"Bella," I called her. She only answered with a hum. "What happened with your parents?"

She halted in her clothes folding. Since there were only two of us, she only did laundry on the weekends when the load was large enough. Always the environmentalist, she said that it would save water, electricity and soap.

"I mean, they were divorced, right? And you lived with your father. What happened with your mother?"

"She left and I have considered myself an orphan ever since," she answered simply.

"Have you ever thought of searching for her? I can help you if you want." She shook her head no.

"I think I'm done here." She put all the folded clothes in the basket and took it upstairs.

After she left, I laughed quietly to myself. Her mother left her. My mother left me. Was fate trying to be funny? We both have mommy issues. I was luckier, I still had family my dad, mom, Emmett and Alice. Bella had no one. She lost her father four years ago and had no other siblings. I felt like a hypocrite offering help trying to find her mother when I made no move of searching my mother.

I stayed behind for a long while, looking around the house, the TV long forgotten. It felt good to have someone to take care of me. My apartment, the one I shared with Emmett and Jasper, wasn't as clean as our house now. I guess having three bachelors under one roof wasn't exactly a recipe for house cleanliness.

It didn't escape my notice what a good wife Bella was being and how lucky I was to have her. She had set the bar high for when this was all over. Her real husband would be so lucky.

I woke up every day to a breakfast. Well, if you could call Bella literally pulling me from the bed waking up. I was not yet in the rhythm of waking up early once my leave came to an end, so I ending up oversleeping. She didn't wake me up that first day. Hearing me scurrying around searching for socks, pants and a shirt woke her up. She ignored me and walked down to the kitchen. She made me coffee and toast ready to go in a brown paper bag. I grabbed them both, along with my briefcase, said thank you and good bye in the same breath and left. What a picture perfect couple we made.

The day after was when all the _Freaky Friday_ style bed pulling started. Two hours before I left for work, I heard Bella knocking on my door and shouted for me to wake up. Then I heard her footsteps going down the stairs. I continued my slumber. Two minutes later, my duvet was pulled roughly from my head and room was too bright. Also, a very high pitched ringing of the alarm clock I never seen in my life rang in my ears.

"Get up, Edward. It's already eight!" Bella shouted.

Turned out, it wasn't two minutes later, it was an hour later.

Then she pulled on my hand trying to drag me off the bed. She was very strong, but luckily I was stronger, and with one snatch, I managed to get my hand safe and sound under the duvet. A peek over the duvet told me that Bella was nowhere in sight. I snuggled into the pillow next to me after I knocked the incessant ringing alarm clock she placed there. Then I heard footsteps. Bella was back. After that I felt drops of water on my scalp.

"Get up, or else," she threatened.

That caused me to sit up straight on my bed with the duvet wrapped around my neck.

"I'm the boss, Bella. It's all right for me to get in late." Slowly, I got to the edge of the bed. Bella backed off slowly with the glass of water.

"It's not all right. You should set an example to your workers, not behave worse than them."

"Really?" An evil thought just popped into my head.

Bella saw the mirth in my eyes, and a look of fear crossed her features. I stood up quickly and threw the duvet off of me. Bella yelped and covered her eyes. Not before splashing the water on me. There I stood in only a pair of boxers and cold water all over me. Still with her eyes closed, she backed off and ran out of the room.

I came down moments later to a glowering Bella and the clock just rang. Indicating it just turned eight a.m.

"Is it just me or is that clock a little late?" I asked her.

"Nope. It's correct," she said as she was spreading her toast with butter.

"But you said…"

Damn. Bella 1 Edward 0

"You really should stop glaring at me. You lied to me and threw ice water at me," I said to her.

Bella 2 Edward 0

"Don't be such a baby, it wasn't iced water. Standing half naked isn't exactly appropriate." That memory made me smile and made her blush.

Bella 2 Edward 1

I ate my breakfast: Two pancakes and a toast. After I cleaned my plates, I kissed her cheek, said thank you goodbye and left.

Bella 2 Edward 2

Now we were even.

Days after that were better. I woke up on my own and had breakfast with Bella. Then I left for work, followed by Bella who went to college. Since the _Freaky Friday_ accident, the dynamics between us had shifted. What used to be Bella treating me like an employer was now a relationship almost like friends bantering back and forth.

Bella's truck was parked in the garage as my car was parked in the driveway. The memory that caused the arrangement to be that way crossed my mind.

The first day we stepped foot in this house was when we just got back from Japan. We took a cab from the airport. The next day, we took a cab to my place to get my car and then went to her place to get her truck.

I didn't know why, but upon seeing her truck in the driveway of her place, my engine fluttered and died. I had the strangest feeling that my car recognised her truck from the accident. You never forget your first.

We both went out, me to check the car, Bella to get her truck. She started her engine, and after leaving it running for fifteen minutes, she took it for a drive around the block. When her truck was out of sight, I tried starting my engine and I came alive. Now I knew Bella's truck was the cause.

Upon seeing her truck from my rear-view mirror, I drove away and she followed from behind. When we reached our house, she parked behind me. Before she got down from her truck, I was at her window.

"You take the garage. I'll take the driveway. My car hates your truck. She's traumatised. So, from now on, you take the garage. I'll park here."

She only raised her eyebrow in disbelief, and shook her head slowly before saying, "If you insist."

That night, I made another discovery. Bella was a great cook. She cooked from scratch. Very rarely did I see her use one of those ready-made meals. I could see that she really appreciated me coming home for dinner because she would give this really bright smile when I entered the door. Unless she hung out at her old place, I rarely ate leftover.

So far, life as a married man seemed fine to me.

* * *

It's a short chapter.

So I have a question. Of the 14 chapters i posted, is there a scene that you thought was funny. or you laughed at.

Because I found it hard to write funny scenes. So I would like to know if i succeeded or not.

Thanks for reading.

Reviews are appreciated.


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